Emerald Eyes
by WindWarrior89
Summary: Dante has had nothing but boring missions until a raven haired beauty shows up, needing his help to get back her sister from a demon. Can they save her in time? And who exactly is the demon that is behind it all? T for some language later in the story
1. Beautiful Stranger

A.N: Well, here's my first ever DMC fanfic that I've ever worked on. Its kind of old, so please don't be too harsh when criticizing. I wasn't going to upload it here, but I though "Eh, what the heck. Why not?" (this story is also uploaded on deviantArt)

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 1: Beautiful Stranger

The rain seemed to pour down harder by the second; pitter-pattering on the tin trash cans as well as the roofs of the houses. Shots rang out in the gloomy darkness the heavy grey clouds had brought upon the city. In an alley way stood a young man soaked from the rain. His name; Dante. Silver hair clung to his face as his ice blue eyes looked down upon the demon in front of him. His blood red, leather coat stood out against the dark grey buildings that lined the alley way; his large sword pointed down at the demon with the rain bouncing off its blade. Thunder rolled in the sky as Dante sighed with boredom, the skeletal demon disintegrating in front of him. The jobs Enzo had been forcing him to do lately were extremely boring. Dante would refuse all the offers, but the fact that he still had rent to pay for his office wouldn't allow him to do so. What it came down to was; he had to take any job Enzo threw at him, no matter how much he complained. Dante ran his hands through his wet, silvery hair before putting away his sword, which seemed to be begging to see more action. His custom made guns, Ebony and Ivory, were no different. All the jobs he had been given lately were only jobs such as getting rid of a few demons in a warehouse or exterminating a demon that decided to take residence in an innocent civilian's home. Nothing a few shots from his guns or a quick swing of his sword couldn't handle. None of which quenched his thirst for some action. But, none of this could be helped. If no one in the underworld, or associated with it for that matter, was stirring about to rid of his presence then, there was to be no major work until something like that happened. As of now, only the demons that had found some miniscule way to climb into the human domain were to be his victims.

Dante walked away from the scene, his gloved hands jammed in his pockets as the rain bounced off the shoulders of his coat. His icy blue eyes scanned the barren streets as he walked, uncaring, towards the bar he usually went to when he had nothing better to do, to get a drink. It wouldn't help with his thirst for action, but it would take his mind off of things, even if only for a moment. His footfalls echoed in the streets as he walked, creating a sense of loneliness. Though, he felt two pairs of eyes on him, from a window up above. Dante slowly came to a stop and looked up, only to see that the gazes belonged to two children. A little girl, who looked the age of six, and a boy, who looked the age of ten, looked down at him with wonder. Both moved away from the window a moment after they had been spotted. Dante shrugged and continued towards the bar, his expression of boredom unchanged. When he finally reached his destination, he yawned as he walked towards the door of the bar, named Bulls Eye; jukebox music hit him like a blast of air as he walked in, as did the welcoming warmth that was radiating from the heater. There weren't many people here, but it didn't matter to Dante. He preferred not to be around a lot of people anyway. A few people were off to the side playing pool while only one person sat on one of the stools, hunched over drinking.

"Yo, Dante. Long time, no see", the bartender greeted with a friendly smile.

"Yo", Dante sat down on one of the stools, "I'll let you pick the drink. I'm not feeling really picky, just nothing too expensive, though"

"You got it", the bartender turned from Dante to grab a glass, trying to ignore the fact that Dante was dripping wet and getting water all over his wooden floor. He knew Dante wouldn't really care if he told him anyway. He grabbed one of the Vodka from the small refrigerator below the counter, knowing that it was Dante's favorite out of all the other's he had tried. "So, how's business?"

"Boring, and let's just leave it at that", Dante answered, taking the drink from the bartender as he set it on the counter, "I came here to get my mind off of things, not talk business"

"Sorry", the bartender apologized before turning to the drunken guy at the other end of the counter, "If you are going to drink yourself to death, don't do it here. I'm not gonna have ya keel over in my bar"

"Mind your own business", the guy's words slurred, barely understandable, "My girlfriend just dumped me for another guy"

"Please", Dante said sarcastically, "I've been dumped by more girls than you could imagine"

"Hm, and I wonder why that is?", the bartender said sarcastically, a grin soon spreading on his face.

"Can it", Dante shot back.

"You brought it up, not me", the bartender pointed out, shrugging with a half smile on his face. Dante opened his mouth to protest, but found nothing he could argue with. He just smiled smugly in friendly defeat as he brought the glass up to his lips.

Without a word, the drunken guy stood up and stumbled out the door. Dante went back to his drink, enjoying the taste as if it were his last drink. The cold liquid felt good as it rushed into his welcoming mouth. Even though it was cold outside, he didn't mind a cold drink in a warm place like this. The bartender turned from him to clean the shot glasses the drunk had left, which seemed to take up a fair amount of space on the end of the counter. The sound of the pool balls hitting each other echoed in the small bar as the tune from the jukebox changed to some oldies song Dante had never heard of. Then again, Dante never listened to that stuff. To him, it was equal to garbage. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse that day, Enzo walked into the bar and sat next to him, a stupid grin on his face.

"Good news", Enzo started, his pudgy fingers grasping a shot glass the bartender had just filled up for him, "I have another job for you"

"I'm jumping for joy", Dante rolled his eyes, taking another swig of his drink, annoyed.

"Hey, don't forget, you still have rent-"

"I don't really care about the rent, I just want an exciting job, Enzo", Dante stated, trying to hold back the urge to choke him. The boredom caused from boring jobs made Enzo seem more irritating than usual.

"Once you pay off this month's rent, you can reject and take any jobs you want", Enzo put down the shot glass, wiping his face with his sleeve.

Dante sighed a silent, irritable sigh, "What is it this time?", Dante asked annoyed.

"Here are the papers", Enzo put on his usual stupid grin once more, "If you're lucky, the employer just might pay you more if you get the job done quicker"

There were so many times when Dante just wanted to take his guns and put some holes in Enzo. His stupid smile and his overly annoying persistence would be the death of him one day. And, unfortunate for Enzo, Dante would feel no regret for being the cause of his death. All who knew them were well aware of this and were just waiting for the show to happen. Even so, he could never rid of Enzo's presence. He needed the office and he needed to keep the jobs coming in, even if they _were_ boring. Before Dante could turn in his chair, a woman walked into the bar, a cold gust of wind following her inside. All the men turned their heads towards the new customer. She looked at the age of twenty with emerald green eyes and wet, raven black hair, which clung to her bare shoulders. She wore a simple, strapless black dress that hugged her every curve, with a silver chain necklace around her neck bearing a green leaf pendant. A slit ran up one side of the dress up to her mid-thigh, which revealed a black ribbon criss-crossing up her leg. Two black high heels with intricate silver designs finished off the simple, yet beautiful, appearance. Her face seemed almost fairy like, despite the fact that her emerald eyes held an exhausted appearance.

All the men in the bar held perverted gazes, which, wasn't surprising, given the fact as to where she came into. A bar wasn't particularly filled with clean minds. Despite the obvious, the woman sat down two stools from Dante.

"The cheapest you have, please", her melodious voice rang, which suited her looks perfectly.

"You got it", the bartender turned around, intentionally grabbing the most expensive one to please her. He had no intention of making the beautiful woman pay for the worst tasting drink in the house. Besides, he had never seen her here before, so she wouldn't know the difference between his cheapest drinks from his expensive ones. Dante stole a glance at her, feeling a strange aura emanating from her.

"Here ya go miss", the bartender smiled, "Enjoy"

"Thank you", she said

The bartender nodded and turned back to washing the shot glasses, all the while holding back the urge to steal a glance at the woman. A perverted smile spread across Enzo's face. '_Idiot, she's not an easy woman. She looks like a woman who wouldn't think twice about stabbing a man who irritated her_', Dante thought to himself, drinking the last of his drink. The other guys went back to playing pool, the short show over now. They seemed to sense that she could kill them if they continued to gawk at her. The woman brought the glass up to her pink lips and drank the amber colored liquid as if she were drinking fine wine. Everything about her seemed graceful. Not even a minute later, the woman sensed she was being watched and looked past Dante, who was getting another drink, at Enzo. Her emerald gaze was fierce though her facial expression was otherwise.

"I would rather you not gawk at me, or do you not care to keep your eyes in their sockets?", she sounded calm, but her glare was deadlier than anything.

"S-sorry", Enzo turned his head the other way, feeling that what she spoke was no empty threat.

She turned back to her drink, taking another sip before speaking, "Bartender"

"Y-yes", he stuttered, "What is it?"

"I believed I asked for the cheapest, did I not?"

"You did"

"I don't believe you expect me to pay for this, right?", she eyed him, though, the gaze was more that of question rather than blame for what he had done.

"Of course not miss", the bartender smiled, "That was my intention from the start. I just didn't want a lady, such as yourself, to have to put up with the foul taste of the cheapest"

The woman smiled, "Why, thank you sir. Very thoughtful of you"

"Anytime miss"

The air held a tense buzz, none wanting to be the one to break it. Only the sound of the water running to clean the dishes was heard. The pool players had even stopped their game, whispering amongst themselves quietly. But, as always, Dante didn't care about keeping the silence. In fact, he despised it.

"Hey, have my strawberry sundae?", he asked the bartender.

The bartender sighed, "You're like a kid, still", he scratched his head, "Yeah, I've got it. I save it only for you. Seriously though", the bartender started, taking out the ice cream and the strawberries from the fridge, followed by the whip cream, "When are you going to outgrow this childish dessert?"

The woman's emerald gaze drifted over to Dante, who paid no attention to anything but the dessert he was about to receive. Enzo was still scared of the woman; he kept his gaze adverted towards a random sign on the wall, knowing that it's contents were going to bore him in a matter of seconds. Then, her gaze drifted down towards the papers in front of Dante, who was now receiving his strawberry sundae. '_Dante?_', she questioned, seeing his name on the request form.

"If you don't mind me asking…what do you do for a living?", the bartender snapped the woman out of her thoughts.

"I sing", she answered, looking at him, "Professionally? No"

"Really?", the bartender started, drying the wet shot glasses, "Can we hear ya?", The bartender was eager to get more words out of her. He loved her voice.

"Sorry, but no", she answered, "I'd rather not"

"Shame", the bartender turned around, "But I won't make ya. By the way, what's you're name?"

All was deathly quiet, except for the spoon Dante was eating the sundae with. Every now and then, it would clink against the bowl to make a small ringing sound.

"My name is Helena", she answered.

"Nice name", the bartender said, still drying the dishes.

The bartender, besides Dante who didn't care, was the only one brave enough to make a conversation with the young woman. The others did not dare try to talk with the woman who looked as if she could bite their heads off if they got on her bad side. Enzo had already crossed that line, while the others teetered on the line of 'like' and 'hate' because of their whispers. She looked at Dante once again and stole a glance at his strawberry sundae.

"Would it be alright if I had some?", she asked, a smile on her face, "Or, is that served only to you?"

Dante looked at her, the silver spoon in his mouth. He was confused at first until he noticed her glancing at his sundae, "Help yourself. It's not just for me, doll. I'm just the only one who has been asking for it"

Her smile grew slightly, "Thank you"

The bartender got out the contents for the sundae, and made one for Helena. He set down the bowl in front of her and put the spoon down on a napkin next to it. Dante watched her eat the strawberry sundae from the corner of his eye. Her emerald eyes sparkled with joy, like a child's, as she ate the dessert. She savored each bite, as if they were her last. Every move she made was graceful and, unintentionally, seductive.

Those playing pool had left now, leaving only Dante, Enzo, Helena, and the bartender in the bar. The rain could still be heard drumming of the roof and pinging on the windows. Despite the rolling thunder, it was quiet once more. Dante and Helena continued to eat their ice cream contentedly. Enzo wanted to leave but couldn't because he had more information for Dante, which he couldn't muster the will to spit out. The bartender continued to clean the dishes, trying to think of more questions that he could ask Helena. Lightning cracked outside, startling only Enzo. The room had lit up for that brief moment, outshining the lights that hung in the bar. The others went about what they were doing without giving the weather a second thought. Then a flash of lighting erupted off in the far distance once more, succeeding to startle Enzo again.

"You're pretty jumpy, aren't ya?", the bartender turned around and looked at Enzo, done with the dishes.

Dante made no comment as he continued to eat his strawberry sundae. Enzo cleared his throat, trying to regain some of his dignity as Helena struggled to hold back a giggle around a spoonful of ice cream. Dante couldn't help but smile as she tried to suppress her small laugh as he took another bite. Enzo was immediately embarrassed and cleared his throat once more and started talking so he could leave and not embarrass himself further.

"Anyway, Dante…you need to be at that mansion tonight, pronto. Remember, the quicker-"

Dante pulled out ivory with his free hand while still eating his sundae, and pointed it at Enzo's head, the smile gone as quick as the lightening outside could strike, "If you wanna walk out of here alive, I suggest you shut that big mouth of yours. I've been hearin' your fat mouth flap all month and it's getting on my nerves"

Enzo gulped, laughing nervously, "You wouldn't kill me"

Dante tightened his grip on the trigger, "Try me"

"If you want to kill him, do it outside. I don't want to have to clean up your mess, or have this place smell like blood for that matter", the bartender stated, throwing a towel over his shoulder.

Dante put his gun away, getting back to finishing his ice cream. Helena had a grin plastered on her face as Enzo wiped the sweat that had beaded on his forehead. Sure, he had known Dante for quite some time. But, you never knew when he could snap, even if it was just for show. Enzo took some time to think back; He had never really seen the half-demon completely snap before. Dante always had a cocky grin on his face, accompanied by sarcastic remarks. If Dante had ever completely snapped, he had never been there to witness it. And it was probably better that way, too. Enzo would be dead by now if he was ever with Dante at the wrong time. He was lucky enough to have lived _this_ long.

Dante looked away from his empty bowl and noticed Helena eating the sliced strawberries that the bartender had left out in the container on the counter, staring off into space now. It was obvious that she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.

"You might want to save some for me for the next time I come in, if you don't mind", Dante pointed out. Now, if that was Enzo eating those strawberries, the man would be dead. But, since this was their first time meeting, Dante didn't want to start something.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!", she pushed the carton the strawberries were in aside, embarrassed. The elegant woman that had walked in seemed to have another side to her, "I didn't mean to, honest"

Enzo knew full well that if that was him eating, he would be on the floor bleeding to death. Helena blushed with embarrassment, which made her delicate features seem almost childlike.

"Don't worry about it", Dante smirked, "Just couldn't have you eating all of them. Wouldn't want this old geezer to have to get some more so soon"

"Who you callin' 'old geezer' you ungrateful freeloader", the bartender crossed his arms and stared at Dante, though, all knew he was only playing along.

Dante shrugged and smirked before bringing his thoughts back to the mysterious woman, the bartender turning around to check his inventory. No matter how hard he tried to shake it off, he had this feeling that Helena wasn't your everyday human. Was it demonic aura he was sensing? No, it was strange. It wasn't human, but it wasn't exactly demonic either. What was it that he was sensing? He studied her as she ran her hands through her drying hair. It was obvious, now that her hair was almost dry, that she had bangs that swept to the one side, framing her face. Helena seemed to sense that he was studying her, but she thought nothing of it. After all, he wasn't looking her up and down like all the other men. Though, he would have done it any other time.

"If you want, you can stay here until the rain stops", the bartender suggested, leaning on the back counter, changing his mind about checking the inventory. He didn't feel like it at the moment. Plus, the place was hardly ever busy, so, he could do it some other time.

"I would, but it doesn't look like the rain will be lifting anytime soon", Helena stated, "I have to get back to my sister"

"A sister, eh?", the bartender smiled, "Is she as pretty as you?"

Helena let out a small laugh, "I won't be the judge of that"

"What's her name?", he continued.

"Tara", Helena got up, leaving the money for the drink and the dessert, "I like this place. I think I'll come by more often"

"Please do", the bartender smiled.

"If ya do, you'd give me something to look forward to. Rather than his annoying face", Dante said, obviously meaning Enzo, as he turned around on his stool, elbows resting on the counter.

Helena smiled, "Same here"

With that, Helena left, back out into the rain. The bartender would have offered her an umbrella, but he didn't have one. So, that did no good. Dante sighed, turning back to the papers and eyeing them with disgust.

"Alright, then", Enzo got up, leaving his pay on the counter as well, "I'll talk to you some other time"

"Wish I didn't have to", Dante grumbled as he flipped through the pages.

Enzo rolled his eyes as he walked back out into the rain, leaving Dante and the bartender the only ones left.

"I'm surprised you haven't killed him yet", the bartender chuckled.

"Give me time. I'll get around to it", Dante replied with an annoyed tone, "Though, now I have one less place I'm allowed to do it. Too bad your place is off limits now"

"I'll let you do it outside my bar", the bartender chuckled once more, "You have my permission"


	2. Just Like the Others

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 2: Just Like the Others

It was midnight, the designated time he was supposed to be at the mansion. The rain had already stopped, but the dark clouds still hung in the night sky, threatening to pour once again at any second. Only the harsh winds remained as Dante stepped up to the property. The black iron gate was heavily overrun by vines while the stone walls were covered in vines so thick that it could be mistaken as paint from afar. The trees on the other side of the gate were as good as dead. They were black, as far as Dante could tell, with only a few patches of leaves on the branches, which, was a pathetic attempt to show that they had some life left in them. Though, even the leaves were already dead; brown and clinging on to what was once their source of life. Dante opened the gate, the tall grass being pushed aside as the weeds clung to the bottom of his coat, as if begging him not to go further and join them instead. Whoever had called for him didn't seem the type that cared to keep up their home. Had people even lived here before the demon took over? Or, had the residents waited longer than they should have to call for aid? Vines clung to the walls of the mansion, creeping up over the roof with an undying hunger for space like some virus spreading. A window on the upper floor was broken, leaving a brown curtain unprotected against the whether. The curtain flapped in the wind helplessly, as if pleading for help from any passerby that saw it. Dante walked up to the porch, which looked as if something large was using it as a scratching post. The wooden door had been broken down, leading into the dark mansion.

"There's a devil here alright", Dante muttered.

He slowly crept into the dark, shattered wood and glass crunching under his boots. A chandelier was slightly swinging overhead, the shadows of the objects around him dancing with the swinging light. Paintings and other photos that had once been hung on the wall had fallen onto the ground. The paintings had been shredded for the most part and the glass that had once protected the photos had been shattered. A spiral staircase had, apparently, once stood in the center of this once grand house. But, just like the rest of the residence, it had been destroyed beyond use. Furniture had been shoved to the side, the material shredded and the stuffing spilling out onto the floor. Whatever was here had dealt a great deal of damage to the place. Dante crossed his arms over his chest and looked around, bored already. He didn't particularly favor searching for his opponents. If anything, he would coax the being to come to him.

"Am I late for the party?", Dante called out with his usual sarcasm, "Or am I too early?"

A rumble stirred the dust in the mansion, followed by a low growl. It was obvious that it was something huge that had decided to take residence in this deserted place. Even so, Dante knew that it wouldn't quench his thirst for more action. Just because the demon was bigger, it didn't particularly mean that it was stronger. In fact, sometimes the smaller ones were stronger. Despite those truths, where had all the interesting jobs gone? Did anyone with an interesting job even have the password? Dante stood waiting for the demon to make its appearance. A few seconds passed before something shot up from under the floor, leaving the wooden floor boards it shot out of, looking like a volcano. A large demon landed on the other side of the room, baring its teeth at Dante, a growl searing between them. It resembled a tiger, save for the spikes protruding from it's back. Its teeth, longer than Dante's arm, were stained in blood from a recent meal. His green eyes glowed in the dark, glaring at the intruder who dared to step into his territory. His spiked tail whipped back and forth behind him, making his fury obvious. Even after looking at his size and appearance, Dante wasn't amused nor was he impressed.

"Well, well", Dante walked up a little closer to the demon, "What do we have here?"

The demon roared as a threat, making the whole mansion shake once again. The chandelier overhead broke free from the ceiling and crashed next to Dante, the sound of breaking glass echoing up the damaged, spiral staircase.

"Whew", Dante waved a hand in front of his nose, "Have you ever considered some tic tacs? 'Cuz that really stunk"

The demon, whose patience had diminished long ago, leapt out at Dante, his mouth wide open. Dante shook his head. All the demons he had been facing lately had the same tactics. That was part of the reason why jobs had become so boring. All demons thought that facing him head on was most cleaver maneuver above surprise attacks. Would the word ever get across to all the demons that fighting him head on would never work? Dante quickly drew his sword and fended off the demon's attack with ease, sending the large deformation back across the room. It quickly shook the attack off and went back in for the kill, but this time it jumped up to the ceiling and pushed off for more momentum; yet another tactic that he had seen over a dozen times. Dante quickly stepped back as the demon crashed head first into the floor.

"You're all the same", Dante started, "Can't you guys think of anything else? You know, like, be more creative or somethin'?"

The demon replied with a low growl as it stood up, shaking the debris from his face. Not even taking Dante's consideration, it leapt forward for another aerial attack. Before it even hit the ground, Dante jumped with his inhuman reflexes and sliced the demon in two. Black blood spewed from the two sides of the split onto him and all over the wooden floor. Dante executed a summersault before landing on one knee, sword pointed out to the side. All was quiet once again as Dante stood up, returning it's sword to its hilt on his back. He then looked up at the hole in the ceiling that the demon had created earlier. The full moon shone down through the parted clouds into the mansion, as if congratulating him on completing another boring job. He turned towards the door he had entered earlier and left, his footfalls echoing even after he left, leaving the split demon to rot away.

A.N: I'm sorry this chapter is so short. It's just the way the story happened to split up. If I made any mistakes, please let me know. When I'm working on more than one story, I happen to miss the small mistakes I make.


	3. The Black Butterfly

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS

A.N: I thank you for taking the time to read this old fanfic of mine. If its boring, I apologize. This fanfic was mostly improvised *which I greatly regret now*

Chapter 3: The Black Butterfly

"Here's your pay", Enzo tossed Dante an envelope stuffed with money, "I took half already, because of the rent"

"Gee, thanks", Dante said sarcastically as he dried his hair with a white towel, the envelope landing on his desk. He sat down in his favorite chair and continued to towel dry his silvery hair. He was shirtless, wearing only his amulet and a pair of black leather pants with his favorite boots. The amulet glistened in the dim light of the office, as if to continually remind Dante of why he wore it; the red jewel almost glowing. Dante eyed the envelope with his pay, knowing full well what he was going to spend it on; Pizza, drinks and probably a new coat. Maybe even a new pair of boots while he was at it. Knowing Enzo, he would more than likely spend his half in the strip club, Love Planet. That is, if he didn't owe money himself.

"Well, I'm gonna leave ya now. Business calls", Enzo turned to leave

"I don't think women count as 'business'", Dante quipped.

Enzo pretended not to hear him as he walked out of the office, the large door creaking as he shut it. Dante leaned back in his chair, leaving the towel on his head. He glanced out one of the windows by the door, noticing that it was still raining. '_It's been going nonstop since yesterday_', Dante thought to himself, a sigh escaping between parted lips as he got up and went towards the couch. He threw the towel on the floor and lay down, looking up at the ceiling fan. The fan squeaked every now and then, but, it didn't bother him. He had gotten used to it so much that he wouldn't even hear it until he was laying down as he was now, staring up at the fan thoughtlessly. Exhaustion soon took over; a yawn escaped from his mouth as his eyelids grew heavy. He desperately tried to stay awake, trying to concentrate on the squeaking of the fan, but sleep conquered in the end.

_"Mommy!", the little boy with silver hair cried, "mommy, wake up!"_

_He continued to attempt to shake his mother awake, his hands, face, and clothes covered with his mother's blood. Salty tears stained his young and innocent face and dripped onto his departed mother's clothes. His mind did not want to accept the fact that she was no longer of this world._

_"Mommy! Why won't you wake up? Mommy!" he began to sob as he continuously shook his mother to try to wake her._

Dante's eyes flew open and he sat up, "Damn, will I ever sleep in peace?"

He glanced towards the window and noticed that it was night already. The rain still pounded on the windows and roof ferociously, as if threatening to break through. Why was it that, every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed of his mother's death? Why wouldn't the memory ever let him sleep peacefully? What would it take to keep the memory from haunting his dreams? Dante got up from the couch, walked over to his juke box and turned it on, turning up the volume to full blast; trying to drown out the nightmare that clung to his memory. Music always seemed to help, even if it wasn't much. The music played so loudly that even a gun shot probably couldn't be heard in the office. Dante walked towards the small fridge that stood under the stairs and grabbed a bottle of vodka. He sat at his desk and took a swig of the drink, staring off into space.

Dante looked up from cleaning Ebony and Ivory when he heard the creaking of his door. Before he had looked up, Dante thought it was Enzo, coming back to give him another boring job. So, he was getting ready to say some sarcastic remark. But, who he saw surprised him, though he pretended he was otherwise. It was Helena, the woman from the other night. She wore the same attire from before, her hair dripping wet again. Though, instead of an elegant appearance, her face held the expression of despair.

"You're the handyman that will take any dirty job, right?", She started, her voice threatening to quiver.

Dante raised an eyebrow. People rarely came personally to him for a job, and with the password for that matter. It was always through Enzo or on the phone.

"Yeah", Dante started, slightly intrigued by her visit, "What's the problem?"

"I need help to get my sister back", she stated, chocking down tears.

"Sorry, I don't do rescues", Dante stated, leaning back dangerously far in his favorite chair. Even if the woman was attractive, he wasn't about to waste his time helping rescue some girl that the police could find.

"It was a devil!", Helena stated with despair, her calm and refined demeanor gone, "You _have_ to do something. I'll pay you anything, just help me get my sister back"

"A devil huh?", Dante examined his guns, as if he had all the time in the world, "Well, if that's the case…I'll take it. Though, we can't forget the pay doll. I don't do charity work"

"Two million", the woman blurted out through her despair without even giving the pay any thought.

Helena was about to step towards Dante when a pair of demons appeared between them. They looked like shadows wearing masks resembling skulls, bearing large scythes, the blades glowing blue-black. One swooped towards Dante while the other darted towards Helena. Dante waited until the last moment to jump from where he sat to fill the ghostly figure with lead. The demon howled before swooping towards him again, its scythe growing larger. Dante, still in the air, fired another round into the demons face. The demon howled once again, before dissipating into nothingness. The silver haired demon-slayer landed on the floor still holding his guns. That's when he glanced at Helena, noticing that she held a sword with an almost invisible blade. When the demons first came in, Dante had this feeling that she could take care of herself. That's why he hadn't bothered to jump in and save her. Though, that raised the question he had asked himself before; what was she?

Helena jumped up into the air with grace and came down on the demon, stabbing her sword into the demon's face. She jumped from the demon's back and sliced through it one more time before it disappeared the same way the other demon had. Dante eyed her suspiciously as her sword turned into orbs of light and disappeared into thin air around her arm.

"It seems my journey here to ask for help has been discovered", Helena turned to Dante, "We must leave immediately"

"What are you? Really", Dante asked, "I don't intend to go any further until I know what you are"

Helena closed her eyes, a moment of silence swept over the office before she answered, "I…I don't really know myself"

"Is that so?", Dante mused.

"I can summon a sword and I can hypnotize people with my singing", Helena stated shaking hear head, as if she didn't like the facts, "My sister is the same way"

"Tell me, who was it that took your sister?", Dante asked as he slipped on a black shirt and grabbed his blood red, leather coat.

"I'll tell you on the way", Helena stated, "Just hurry and grab the weapons you need"

"I don't know who he is or how he knows me. When he came to me, he asked me to join up with him to help bring devils sealed in the underworld to this world. When I refused, I thought he was just a man out of his mind. Though, as soon as I saw his devil form, I tried to fight back. I was too caught off guard by this and he took my sister then disappeared, saying to go look for him in 'Nightscape'", Helena finished calmly, despite the distress that veiled her eyes, the rain soaking her once again as she tried to suppress her shivers.

"'Nightscape'? Never heard of it", Dante said as he put on a pair of fingerless, black gloves.

"It's a club on the other side of town", Helena replied, then waited before adding to her statement, "The place where I perform"

Dante opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he noticed Helena had stopped dead in her tacks. She stared up into the distance like a cat lifting its head to sense something approaching. He looked at her confused at first, but soon sensed a demon coming their way. A scowl formed on Helena's beautiful face after a moment, obvious that she recognized the presence coming their way. Dante remained silent, as the presence seemed somewhat familiar to him. But, he couldn't put his finger on why that was exactly. The rain seemed to gradually lighten into a drizzle as the demon drew closer.

"It's him…no mistake about it", Helena hissed to herself, her hands curling into fists so tightly the knuckles turned white.

"The big guy, huh?", Dante asked nonchalantly, trying to push aside the feeling of familiarity with the demon coming their way.

Helena made no answer, and she wouldn't have been able to, due to a small, red portal opening up above them before she could even form an answer in her mind. A man slowly descended out of the portal, a black coat flapping behind him like black wings. Dante was prepared to grab any of his weapons in the blink of an eye if the man tried to attack. Helena seemed to be just as prepared, her hands ready to summon her sword, even if she couldn't match Dante's speed. Her emerald eyes gleamed in the grey atmosphere brought by the rain clouds.

"My, my…so hostile", the man's slick voiced pierced the tension like a blade with false innocence, "I just came to chat and nothing more"

"What makes you think I want to chat with a vile being like you", Helena spat, "Give me back my sister!"

"Tsk, tsk", the young man shook his head, his golden-red eyes glowing under a shock of dark brown hair, "First thing's first…you weren't supposed to bring the Son of Sparda into this matter, I thought I told you that"

"Too late now, since you failed to mention it in the first place", Helena retorted

The young man sighed before running a hand through his hair, "Silly me…well, I can't do anything about it now. But, I guess this will make things a little more interesting. How about this? If you can make it to where I am before midnight tomorrow, I'll give you your sister back. And you", he looked at Dante, "I know that you sense something familiar about me, so, I'll tell you who I am before you and I have a little duel for fun"

"I may have a feeling that I have met you before, but I don't really care whether I find out or not", Dante claimed.

"We'll see if you change your mind about that once I tell you. You'll be wishing you were curious earlier once the truth is told to you", the man's smile grew from sarcastic to pure evil, "Oh, and don't think of attacking me now or I'll throw the whole deal off and kill your precious sister, Helena"

Helena's rage boiled over now, unable to attack her enemy to take it out on. Both watched as the man jumped back into the portal before it disappeared with the sound of cracking thunder. Helena was about to step forward when an excruciating burning feeling swept over her entire right arm, as if someone was holding a match to her skin.

"Ah!", she gasped in pain, dropping to the ground on her knees and grasping her arm.

"Hey, what's wrong?", Dante asked, taking a step forward but stopped when the voice of the man echoed down the street; as if a loudspeaker had been placed somewhere in the area.

"A little parting gift for you, Helena. The Black Butterfly"

As soon as he said that, a tattoo of a black butterfly appeared on Helena's upper arm. She grimaced in pain as the tattoo seemed to burn into her skin. The young woman clenched her teeth as the pain threatened to make her vomit; she could taste the bile in the back of her throat. Dante could do nothing but watch with concern as Helena continued to gasp. Minutes ticked by slowly for her; it seemed the pain would never subside. But, after what seemed like an eternity, the burning began to fade away to a slight tingling.

"We…have to go", she caught her breath as she stood, "There's no time to waste"

"You gonna be alright?", Dante asked, unusually concerned.

"It doesn't matter", Helena hissed, "We have to get moving"


	4. Nightscape

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

Chapter 4: Nightscape

Dante followed Helena, unusually quiet, as they made their way to Nightscape. Every now and then, Helena would run her hand over the tattoo. It was sore, but nothing she couldn't get over. As the two walked silently to their destination, the rain began to pour down once again. Helena mentally cursed the whether, but took it back when she felt that the cold rain was subduing the tingling feeling in her arm.

"Are we almost there?", Dante asked, trying really hard to hide the boredom that threatened to consume him.

"Yes", Helena replied, her voice had returned to its usual silky tone, "It's just up around the corner"

"Mind if I ask something else?", Dante continued, not wanting the silence to return.

"Shoot", she replied, almost zombie like.

"Do you know that guys name?"

"I thought I already told you, I don't know who he is", Helena shot back, but then she thought back about what the man had said to Dante, "He said that… you seemed to sense that his aura was familiar to you…is that true?"

Dante scratched the back of his head, "I can't really put my finger on it but…yeah, I guess so", he looked up at the unfamiliar tall buildings they were passing, "I can't quite say who it is because something is getting in the way. Like, something is interfering with the reception; I guess that's a way to put it"

"Tell me, why were you so quick to accept my offer?", Helena changed the subject. Dante looked away from the buildings to make eye contact for a moment before looking back ahead, "I mean, not that I'm complaining. But, I would think that you would have thought about it a little before answering"

"This is what I do for a living doll, or did you not read the memo? I don't really need a reason, or think about it, when it comes to taking out devils", Dante replied, revenge against all the evil devils slightly burning in his ice blue eyes, "Besides, my routine for the past month was a broken record and I needed something new"

"I guess I could have said the same thing about having a boring routine", Helena murmured, before looking up at Dante, "But I have learned now, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it"

Dante shrugged and smirked, "Like I haven't learned that one already"

Before any more words could be exchanged, Helena stopped in front of a worn down, brick building. The neon blue letters 'Nightscape' flickered in the night, a picture of a girl sitting inside a crescent moon holding a beer glowed next to it. Posters of all kinds were scattered about the brick walls as if they were meant to be wallpaper; posters of upcoming concerts, drinking contests that were to be held and job offers at the bar. Dante scanned the building, taking in the sign, as if searching for clues of some kind. Helena walked up to the black door with a moon painted on it. She hesitated for a moment before turning to Dante, who was still staring up at the sign.

"It might be busy inside right now, so just act like you're 'with' me, alright?", Helena instructed, emphasizing 'with' to get her meaning across, "Just play along, and no one will have a second thought. We just need to go through to the back, where I think that demon will be meeting us. It's the only place in this bar I have not been"

"No objections here", Dante responded as he walked with her to the door.

"Good", Helena placed her hand on the knob, "Let's go"

The knob was cold in her hand as she turned it; it squeaked slightly before she opened the door. Many different scents and sounds crashed on the two like a wave once she opened the door. At first, no one seemed to notice that they were there. Girls dressed in different costumes served the male guests with seductive smiles. Their perfumes mingled with the smell of alcohol in the building, each scent battling to do away with the other. The music played loudly in the background, as if trying to deafen all the people in the bar. Right when Helena closed the door after Dante walked in, a red headed girl with golden eyes, wearing a risqué maid costume, glanced over at Helena and smiled. Her face seemed to glow as her eyes sparkled with a friendly familiarity.

"Helena!", the girl leaped away from her drunk customer and ran over to Helena, giving her a big hug, her red curls bouncing, "I was wondering what happened to you, since you didn't show up on time. Risa's even got your singing post for today."

"Sorry about that Amy", Helena faked a smile for her sake, "I had some…matters to attend to"

Amy smiled gleefully at her friend before noticing Dante, "Oh, a new customer", Amy leaned in and whispered to Helena, "And not too bad looking either. Tell me, where'd you pick him up?"

"He's my date", Helena lied, still faking a smile as she wrapped an arm around one of Dante's arms and leaned her head on his shoulder for appearances.

"Name's Dante", the silver haired demon-slayer grinned at Amy.

"Ooh! I'm so jealous", Amy pouted, "First man you bring here, and he's killer. So how far have-"

"Don't even go there", Helena interrupted, knowing full well what was about to come out of Amy's mouth. She pulled Amy closer as she pulled away from Dante, so she could whisper, not that it mattered anyway since no one could hear within a few inches of where they were at thanks to the music. "Listen, I need you to do me a favor, Alright?"

"Sure", Amy smiled, blissfully unaware of what was going on, "You name it"

"I need you to keep the coast clear while I go into the back", Helena whispered.

Dante remained quite as he scanned the bar, wishing he had enough time to stop for a drink. A few of the waitresses had noticed him by now, smiling as they scanned him up and down. But, their gazes were unwillingly pulled back to their customers, who were impatient for more of their hostesses' attention.

Amy's face grew serious, "That area is off limits, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know"

"Even the assistant manager isn't allowed back there", Amy informed, crossing her arms over her chest, her glittery nails flashing in the multicolored lights, "The manager is the only one that goes back there…and he's not here today, or so I heard from the assistant manager"

Helena raised an eyebrow, "Not here? Come to think of it, I've never seen the manager. It was the assistant manger that hired me"

"Really? That's odd", Amy mused, "I was thinking the same thing"

"Anyway, to get to the point", Helena interrupted her friend's trail of thought, "I need to get back there. I believe that there is something important that could help me"

"Why? What's going on?", Amy looked from Helena to Dante then back to Helena, "Are you guys in some kind of trouble?"

"Listen, I'll explain everything to you when this is all over alright? Now's not the time", Helena urged, "But, please, just cover for me while we go towards the back"

Amy looked at Dante again then back at Helena, her cherry red lips curved into a frown before she sighed, "Alright, I'll help. But, don't expect me to cover for you when you get into trouble"

"Don't worry, I'll leave you out of this", Helena smiled in thanks.

"Just go before the assistant manager decides to do his rounds", Amy shooed the two away, "But promise me you'll come back soon, your little fairy costume looks lonely in the changing room"

"I promise", Helena smiled before leading Dante into the back of the bar.

Helena made a dash for a blue curtain once the two had made it into the hall, Dante right beside her. She threw aside the curtain once they reached the end of the hall, and walked into the room on the other side. When both saw that the room was devoid of the boss's presence they began looking around quickly for a door or something that resembled one at least. Both figured that, if the boss was not present, then there was something in this room that would lead them to him. Dante looked around as well, but it didn't take long for the two to notice a strange mirror among all of the paintings that hung on the wooden wall. An aura, invisible to normal humans, was clear to the two. It was as if a black mist seeped from its sides. Its reflective surface seemed to reflect something other than the objects in the room. Dante and Helena made eye contact, as if making sure that they were both on the same page. They nodded and stepped towards the mirror, Helena fiddling with the pendant on the necklace she wore. Around the edges of the mirror was an inscription. Dante took one look at it and immediately concluded that he didn't know the language. Helena, however, read each symbol with no difficulty.

"You understand that?", Dante asked, testing to see if her expression of knowing was just for show.

"Yes, perfectly", Helena replied, looking at Dante

"Then what's it say?", Dante tested once again.

"Basically, we need a human's blood and a demon's blood. Then all we do is smear it over the symbols", Helena replied, ignoring Dante's doubt that she understood the symbols. Dante knew what to do; he had no need for her to say it.

"I guess I'll have to do it, since I have both", Dante replied.

Helena took off her necklace and tapped the center of it, a small dagger appearing out of the bottom of the leaf, "Here, use this to prick yourself"

"Any other weapons I should know about, doll?", Dante asked as he accepted the small dagger.

"I'm afraid my dagger and my sword are the only two I have", Helena smiled, "Sorry to disappoint"

Dante said nothing as he pricked his finger with the small dagger, followed by dark blood oozing from the small cut. Not even examining the cut, he slid his finger across the symbols, making sure that his blood covered everyone of them.

"When we're done with all of this", Helena started softly, "I'll buy you a drink here, as a thanks. Of course, you will get your pay too"

"Are the drinks here any good?", Dante asked, almost done with his work.

"The finest", Helena smiled, "That, I can assure you"

Dante let out a small chuckle, "I guess that would explain how you knew what you got at the Bullseye wasn't the cheapest. But, why would you go to a place like Bullseye when you work at a place like this?"

She shrugged, a smile on her pink lips, "I guess the cheaper stuff tastes better"

Before Helena could say more, Dante had already finished his work. The mirror's reflective surface began to ripple like water, the vision it had shown before was now clearer than before. Both stepped back slightly as the mirror grew in length. An eerie creaking noise came from the mirror as the edges of it became black and gold. The framing continued to creep across the wall, covering all the paintings that surrounded it. Though, the framing harmed nothing in it's path; it left the paintings and the wall damage free. Dante and Helena looked around cautiously as the frame of the mirror encased the whole room in its black and gold, metal tentacles. Finally the creaking came to a stop once the door they had walked through moments ago, was blocked off with another mirror. That mirror reflected the two like any normal mirror would.

"We're in the demon's world now", Helena stated, not really directing it to Dante.

"I guess the only way back is to win this little game of his", Dante looked back at the other mirror, its surface still rippling like water.

The mirror showed a stone stairway that led into darkness. No walls seemed to be on the sides of the stairway. If either one of them took the wrong step, it could mean death. Or, maybe just serious injuries that would take some time to heal, in their case. Demons could handle falling from such heights, if Helena was some type of demon that was.

"Alright", Helena seemed impatient about rescuing her sister, but knowing that haste could mean death kept her from bolting into the mirror's rippling surface, "Let's go. I don't intend to waste a minute"

"Right beside ya", Dante replied stepping into the wide mirror with Helena. Stepping in felt like passing through a thin layer of water, except for the fact that they remained dry. Helena's shoes clicked against the first stone step once she was out of the mirror. She looked around and noticed the same thing Dante had; there were no walls. There was nothing but darkness. Helena shuddered when she tried to think of what could possibly be lurking down at the bottom, if there _was_ a bottom for that matter. One thing was for sure, the smell of blood in this place was strong. Helena's delicate perfume was overpowered by the scent so much, that, not even Dante could detect it any more.

"It reeks in here", Helena choked back the urge to vomit, feeling the bile in the back of her throat once again.

"In a while you won't even notice it", Dante informed, not even bothered by it, "You'll get used to the smell"

Helena nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She feared that she would puke if she opened her mouth. She would wait until the smell didn't affect her as much before she would say anything. Dante stepped forward on the stairs before a maniacal laugh pierced the darkness. Both he and Helena looked around, trying to find the source of the laughter.

"You were smart to bring him, Helena", a familiar voice mocked in the darkness, "Without him, you wouldn't have even gotten though the portal. How convenient for you"

Helena hissed catlike, all the feeling of sickness gone, "My convenience will be your demise. Let's just see how long you can keep up your confidence"

He laughed again, "My little butterfly…let's just see how long you can maintain _your _confidence"

His maniacal laughter faded away into the darkness, continuing to mock the two on the stairs. Helena scowled, her hands curling in to fists so tight her knuckles turned white; as she had done the first time the devil approached her.

"Don't pay any attention to him", Dante began, "He's just taunting you"

"I know that", Helena replied through clenched teeth, her eyes closed.

She was about to step forward when a rumbling sound came up the stairs. Helena looked up at Dante with confusion, as if he would somehow know what was approaching. Though, he was just as confused as she was. The rumbling sound was soon followed by an earthquake. Dante and Helena tried to balance themselves on the shaking stairs.

"What the-", Dante started.

The stairway split in two, leaving the two no time to grab for each other as the stairs continued to crumble. Helena's fading scream was the last thing Dante heard before he blacked out.

A.N: I'm sorry, I'm horrible when it comes to describing things like the mirror. But I hope you liked this chapter and that it wasn't too boring.


	5. Separate Battles

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

Chapter 5: Separate Battles

Dante awoke, laying face down, with a throbbing headache and the taste of blood in the back of his throat. He slowly sat up, cursing his luck.

"Damn, why is there always a trap?", Dante asked aloud, "Crumbling stairs? C'mon, can't the bad guys think of anything better?"

He stood up, feeling slightly woozy, and spat some blood onto the black, carpeted floor. Dante rubbed his aching head, looking up to see nothing but endless darkness. '_Just how far did I fall?_' he asked himself. But that question was soon replaced by a more important one; where was Helena? Dante thought of bursting through the wall using Rebellion, thinking that maybe she was just on the other side. But, he couldn't be sure how far gravity had pulled her away from the crumbling stairs. Plus, there was the fact that bursting through the wall could trigger something and endanger Helena and himself as well. Even if he laughed in the face of danger, he couldn't say the same for Helena; that plan was a no go. Dante cursed his luck once again before looking away from the darkness above him to examine the room. Dark brown bricks were the walls of the room, with red curtains placed randomly around the room. Candles of all sized were placed around the edges of the room. Then Dante noticed a door on the other side of the large room. It was a fairly large wooden door with a golden handle in the shape of a contorted face. Dante tried the handle only to find that it was locked. This only annoyed Dante further, pushing him to take Rebellion from its holding place on his back. He prepared to blast down the door when a high pitched screech erupted above him, which was soon followed by multiple screeches and the flapping of wings. Dante stopped mid attack and looked upward, seeing many pairs of glowing green eyes heading in his direction from above.

"Well, well", Dante smirked, "Look who came to play"

Ten bird like demons swooped down from the darkness. They took the appearances of birds, though their scale like wings and their tails shaped by fire threw it askew. All ten swooped down at one time, hoping that at least one of their comrades would get in a strike. But, Dante knew all too well of their plan of action and immediately ducked and rolled out of the way. Rebellion had already been sheathed and his treasured guns had been drawn by this time. The demons quickly flew up away from the door and swooped down again for another aerial attack. Dante quickly aimed Ebony and Ivory and fired rapidly; too quick for the human eye. About six of the demons fell from overhead with a screech. Four of the smarter ones remained in the air, as if deciding their next plan of attack. Not even five seconds passed when the four spread out, keeping their distance as they circled around Dante like vultures. They waited close to three seconds before they swooped down to attack from four sides. Dante smirked before jumping into the air with his inhuman reflexes. Once he was above the demons he flipped upside down, beginning to spiral down towards the ground while firing his bullets at the demons. None of the four escaped his attack. They fell to the ground with a screech before they disappeared, just as the others had. Dante executed an effortless summersault before landing perfectly on the carpeted ground.

"Well, that settles that boring event", Dante mumbled.

Then, a click came from the locked door he had almost attempted to blast down earlier. He looked over to see that the door was slowly creaking open to reveal a room filled with mirrors. Cautiously, yet pretending otherwise, he walked through. Instantly, he felt the temperature drop to a temperature that had to have been somewhere below zero. White puffs appeared from his mouth when he breathed, only to further prove the fact of the temperature change.

"What is this? A fun house inside a freezer?", Dante asked aloud as he looked at the mirrors of all shapes, some distorting his figure like those at a fun house.

He hugged himself for warmth; the further he walked forward, the colder it got. It was far too cold to keep his cool demeanor now. Dante could feel the tips of his ears burning just as bad as he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. '_I'm gonna freeze to death if I don't find a way out_', Dante foretold as he looked around. The mirrors seemed to be making the headache he had been fighting to ignore worse. Sure, Dante had had hangovers before. Though, the headaches that had occurred from them were nothing near as bad as the one he had now. What seemed like hours, which, in reality, was minutes, Dante saw a round room ahead, a blue door on the other side. He would have smiled in triumph if he wasn't scared of his face cracking from doing so; he couldn't exactly tell if his face was frozen or not. '_Hopefully it's warmer on the other side; I don't think I can take this much longer_'. Before Dante could take in the moment, a small chuckle echoed down the mirror hall. '_Great_', he thought sarcastically.

"It seems you've made it without freezing to death", a woman's voice spoke seductively, "I'm glad. It would have been such a waste if you died"

"Thanks for caring", Dante started sarcastically, trying to regain his cool. He tried to act as if the cold wasn't getting to him, "Though, if you really cared, you'd turn up the heat in here"

When he walked into the round room, a red barrier with the faces of tortured souls blocked the doorway. Sure, Dante wanted some action because of the past month of boring jobs. But, freezing to death for it just wasn't what he had in mind. Dante glared at the barrier. Though, he knew better than anyone that that wouldn't work; the only thing that would rid of the barrier was the defeat of the demon in the room. He turned around, his eyes scanning the mirrors around him. Something was different about the mirrors in this room. They weren't the same ones that had surrounded him when he first walked into this place. One showed him as a little boy, an innocent smile on this face. Another showed his devil form. One showed Eva, his mother, and another showed his father, Sparda. Dante stopped scanning when his eyes fell upon the mirror that showed his twin brother Vergil. Vergil seemed to have a mocking grin on his face as he held his yamoto. He looked exactly like he did when he had decided to stay in the demon world. Dante scowled, and looked away.

"Do you like what you see?", the woman's voice from before echoed in the small area, "These mirrors reflect your past, what's inside of you, and your family. Though…they can reflect more if you wish them to"

The reflective surfaces rippled and the images were gone. The mirrors now reflected Dante as he was now and the woman with light blue hair and red eyes behind him. She wore a plane white dress against her pale skin. The dress was very short, stopping above her mid thigh. The v-neck came down very low, exposing most of her chest. She stood barefoot, from what Dante could tell in the reflection. Her blue lips were curved into a smile, clearly revealing her true intentions.

"For instance, I could make the reflections of-"

Dante turned around, not really caring to look her up and down with a smug grin like he would usually do, "Listen, I don't know if you noticed but it's freezing in here, can we get this over with?"

She sighed, "If we must. But, I was wishing to show you more of what I could do with the mirrors. I haven't had guests in so long"

"I can see why", Dante removed Ebony and Ivory in a flash, "Guests don't particularly like their hosts freezing them to death when they come to visit"

"If we must", she sighed, before her light blue hair began to float around her with her red eyes glowing intently, "Come, Son of Sparda!"

*****************************************************************************************

Helena winced as she began to regain consciousness. Every part of her body protested against her movements, screaming in pain at the slightest budge. She could taste blood in the back of her throat amidst the pain. She opened her mouth to mutter Dante's name, just to see if he, by some miracle, was there as well. But, she couldn't seem to speak; her voice had abandoned her for the moment. The sound of rushing water soon reached her ears as the faint smell of roses reached her nose. She forced herself to open her eyes to get a look at her surroundings. The whole area was of light grey stone with moss patching the floor and vines of roses creeping up the walls. A fountain was in the center of the large room, though it wasn't water which she thought it was a moment ago. It was a dark red liquid, which was more than likely blood. Though, its scent was masqueraded by the roses around the room.

She attempted to move again, but her body protested like before. When a shot of pain went up her spine, she gasped in pain.

"Light of Healing, Come unto thy body and heal", Helena's voice came out in a whisper.

Her body glowed for a moment before all of the pain in her body was gone. She slowly sat up and looked around the room too see if Dante was around somewhere. Though, that was before she remembered that he had fallen to the other side. Her heart sank at the thought of facing everything that was ahead on her own. Helena had some powers, yes, but the only things she could do were; summon her sword, heal herself, and seduce with her songs. Her sword and her songs could only be used on the weaker demons, which were less than likely to make an appearance here. To put it simply, her powers were practically useless here. Her eyes soon fell upon a green door on the other side of the large room. It was the only thing that had not been touched by moss or the rose vines. Helena stole a glance up at the darkness before deciding that the only way out was through that door.

She carefully stood and brushed the debris off of her dress and out of her hair. Helena reluctantly made her way to the door, fearing of what she could, and more than likely would, face. What if she didn't make it? What would happen to her sister? Would the boss just kill her because she was of no use to him? Questions buzzed in her head as she brought her hand up to the door knob, only to find that there was none. Instead, a rose bud was in its place.

"Isn't this place beautiful?", a man's voice slithered through the silence, "The master was very kind to me…giving me my own place to grow"

Helena swiftly turned around to find a tall demon disguised as a man with rose red hair and green eyes. He was clothed in a green robe with a gold tie. He was handsome, but a wicked smile threw all amiss. The demon walked around her, keeping his distance, as he studied her.

"You're one of us", he noted.

"Yes, and what of it?", Helena shot back, not really understanding what he meant by that. '_A demon? Am I really one of them?'_

"Tsk, tsk", his velvet voice sent a shiver down her spine, "I don't want to have to fight you…I don't like fighting my own kind. Demons should never do such a thing"

"I don't remember that becoming a law. If that was the case, I wouldn't be here now, would I? And I don't remember ever being put into the same category as you demons", Helena retorted, "Anyway, if all you are going to do is talk, I'm leaving. I have some business with the master"

His face held a look of pure curiosity, "Are you Helena? The one the master said was coming for Tara?"

"What's it to you?", Helena spat, "And make your answer quick, my time is limited"

"I see", he bowed, "My name is Rozzen. I shall entertain you"

Helena summoned her sword, knowing all too well what he was getting at. But, something didn't seem very right about this man. There seemed to be a struggle within the demon's soul, as if a part of him was fighting against doing this. Helena pushed that aside though, thinking that the demon was probably trying to confuse her.

"Sorry, but this guest can't stay long for the entertainment", Helena started, readying herself for attack.

"Don't worry, the show won't last long", with that said, his pale skin turned green and all of his limbs turned into multiple whip like extensions of his body, covered in thorns. His hair had grown longer, moving whip-like behind him, as if they had minds of their own.

Helena got into position as the demon let out a strange cry. It was time to fight.

*****************************************************************

Dante slid to the side as the demon blew another gust of ice shards in his direction. Over the past two minutes, the demon woman had become very predictable, and boring. And it wasn't getting any warmer in the room; just to top off Dante's increasing irritation. She threw another blast of shards in his direction before disappearing into a mirror. Dante had dodged the useless attack and began to look around, trying to get a sense of where she was going to come from next. One second gave it all away. A mirror behind him rippled so quickly that any normal person would have thought their mind was playing tricks on them. But, Dante knew better when it came to demons. He jumped up towards the high ceiling when a blast of ice daggers protruded from the mirror, and came back down.

The woman then slipped out of the mirror with a new weapon in hand, or on her hands to be more precise. She bore two long swords that were extensions of her arms. Dark aura poured from both of her new weapons. What she didn't notice was that Dante knew that it threatened to consume her without her knowledge. But, Dante wasn't about to tell her that. It would work to his advantage. Besides, the sooner he got out of this freezing room, the better. Since having a battle while freezing to death wasn't his idea of fun.

"Seriously, is this the best you can do?", Dante commented, "If so, Then your boss must not be so great either"

"Don't insult the master!!", she screamed as cold blasts of air came from every side of the room, "He has been kind to me and I owe him my life. You will die for saying such a thing"

She started off in full sprint, swinging her blades madly. Dante slid out of the way with ease before bringing down Rebellion and getting in his own strike. The woman had been so blind from her rage that she hadn't even cared to watch to her back. Dante had sliced the demon from shoulder to her lower back. Black blood began to ooze from the large wound as the demon woman turned to him with double the amount of rage.

"My beautiful body! How dare you!", the demon woman cried, "Now I have two reasons to rid of your disgusting presence"

"Disgusting?", Dante argued, "Now that's not very nice. Didn't you master tell you to say nice things to your playmates?"

Dante's sarcastic remark enraged the demon even further. Yet again, she went to strike him. She randomly swung her weapons, hoping to at least get one hit onto the silver haired demon. But, he was nothing but a silver and red blur as he dodged her attacks. It wasn't long when, what Dante had been expecting, began to happen. The dark aura began slithering around her body, freezing her in place.

"What's happening?!", she cried, trying to squirm out of the darkness's hold on her.

"Your boss seems to be through with you", Dante stated as he returned his weapons to their usual place on his back.

"No, that can't be right! My master-", she gasped as the dark, purplish swirls began creeping up to her neck, "Master, Please! I'll kill him for you, I swear!"

"You have failed me Icena", the familiar voice of the master echoed, "I have no need for you if you cannot defeat him"

"No, wait! A little more time!", she reached towards the darkness up above before the darkness fully consumed her. She didn't even scream as she disappeared. All that was left of her was the dress she had been wearing and a few locks of her hair, which, were more than likely what had been cut off when Dante had sliced her. Dante looked up at the darkness and glared, even though he knew that the boss wasn't there. Even so, he knew he was watching. It was true that he was a demon killer who killed demons without mercy, much less a second thought. But, it just ate at him when the demons' supposedly 'allies' betrayed them and disposed of them as if they were nothing more than garbage. Though, Dante expressed nothing of his thoughts, no matter how irritated he was.

"Thanks, you just made my job a whole lot easier", he covered up.

"Don't get used to it", the master replied, "I won't be ridding of them until I am sure that they are defeated from now on"

As soon as that was said, the room began to warm up and the sound of a door unlocking reached Dante's ears. It was meant to give him a sense of accomplishment, but he wasn't particularly in the mood for self congratulations at the moment. He looked back at the mirrors only to find that they had returned to their original state; only reflecting him and the room. Dante walked out without looking back a second time.

*****************************************************************************

Helena jumped out of the way with the agility of a cat. She knew she couldn't keep up the stealth forever; she could sense her muscles fatiguing already, no matter how much she tried to ignore that fact. Rozzen continued to whip out his thorny tentacles with little mercy. Each time he lashed out at her, he was closer and closer to ripping through her ivory skin. Even so, she managed to jump out of the way at the last second. During this time, Helena tried to think of a way to counter attack. But, every plan would leave her injured in some way. Surely, one would think that it wouldn't matter since she had the powers to heal herself. The problem was that she didn't know for sure if his tentacles were poisoned or not. If they were and she got hit, she had no way to extract the poison. She would end up dead sooner or later. Even so, she knew that the battle couldn't drag on much longer. Every second she wasted here was a second closer to Tara's demise.

Helena suddenly ceased the defensive and faced the demon, immediately taking the offensive. Rozzen sneered, knowing what her intentions were. But, how she would carry them out dubbed him ignorant. Helena bounded toward him, a strategy already playing clearly in mind. She danced around the tentacles that he lashed out at her, slicing them with her sword as she advanced. Her fluid movements surprised Rozzen, though, concluding that her dodges were nothing more than flukes. When a tentacle cut her upper leg, Rozzen immediately became overconfident. At the same time, Helena was relieved when she didn't sense any poison from the cut. All she had to worry about now was getting past the tentacles and to the main body. The thorny tentacles continued to come from all directions as Helena continued her advanced forward. It wasn't hard to avoid the tentacles as she got closer to the demon's body. It seemed that Rozzen had a difficult time controlling his extensions the further she advanced. Obviously, he had only predicted far-ranged battles; thus, he had not foreseen anyone getting past his attacks. Helena jumped into the air, using her inhuman abilities to her advantage. All of Rozzen's tentacles jutted upward in a last attempt to stop her. Although it proved useless once Helena cut them all off in one swing, much to his dismay. Rozzen stood dumbfounded as Helena continued her descent down towards him, her sword pointed at him, as if sealing his fate. His eyes widened in fear, realizing he had no time to escape.

With one hand, Helena thrust her invisible blade into the demon's heart. Dark blood stained her sword as Rozzen let out an eerie and pained cry. Instantly, the tentacles that remained connected to his limps, turned to dust. His green skin turned back to the pale color it had been before and his rose red hair returned to normal as well. Helena drew her sword from where she had pierced him and looked down at the demon on his knees, dark blood oozing from his wound down his green robe. His breathing came in gasps as he slowly looked up at her, a pleading look in his eyes. Helena knelt down to see eye to eye with him, sensing that he was no longer a threat; his eyes no longer held the blood lust that had resided in his green eyes before the battle.

"Tell me", she started, "Why is it I sense a battle raging on inside of you?"

"Because I was forced…into this", he gasped, "The master…took control of my mind. But, I am free because I am useless to him now"

"What?"

"Listen, finish me off before I heal and the darkness takes me over once again", the demon's dark green eyes met her emerald gaze.

"I can't", Helena admitted, "Not when I know that you are not intentionally evil"

"Unintentionally or not, evil resides in me. Kill me before Mu-"

Before he could finish, a dark portal appeared above him. She felt that it was too late to get any more out of Rozzen. A strange creeking sound found its way to Helena's ears as the dark portal spewed out black tentacles. They grabbed for Rozzen and clung to his body.

"Rozzen, who is it that is doing this to you?", Helena pleaded, but knew that it was hopeless.

Rozzen opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't seem to get any words out. Helena stepped back as the portal grew larger, the creaking sound growing louder. Only a moment had passed when the darkness fully engulfed Rozzen and disappeared.

"My dear Helena", the master's voice echoed above her, "You're too kind for your own good"

"How low will you stoop?!", Helena snapped, "Taking control of an innocent demon"

"The demon world doesn't play fair, Helena. You should know this", the master's voice informed calmly, as if the demon world was some child's playground. Helena scowled and hissed. "He was simply a pawn for distraction. Obviously, he didn't do his job well enough, so, I disposed of him. You should know, my dear, that kind demons are not meant to exist"

"You're sick", Helena muttered.

It was after she said that when she had felt that the master's presence was gone. The door she had noticed before creaked open behind her. She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath to ease her anger. It didn't help much, but it helped a little, nonetheless. Her sword disappeared from her hand, the orbs of light danced around her as if in attempt to tell her that all would be alright, before they disappeared. When her gaze drifted downward, she noticed a single red rose lay where the demons had once been; his soul. It lay lonely on the stone floor, speckled with dark blood. Helena stepped forward and knelt down to pick it up. Though, she dropped it when a thorn pricked her finger. Blood trickled down the pricked finger before she stuck it in her mouth to stop the bleeding. With her other hand, she went for the rose again, being careful to avoid the thorns.

"I'll destroy the master no matter what", she whispered as a promise, taking her finger away from her lips, "Whether it is Dante or I that shall carry out the deed, it shall be done". As if in response, the rose began to turn to dust. The grains slithered between her fingers and fell to the floor. Helena stood and went towards the door, not looking back. '_I've got to find Dante_', she thought to herself, trying to think of something else, '_There's no way I can handle this on my own_'

A.N: Battle scenes are another thing I'm horrible with. And yet, I keep writing them *sigh* I try my best. The only way I can improve is to keep trying, right? I hope you liked this chapter. (and I hope Rozzen's death wasn't too cheesy)


	6. Not What it Seems

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

Chapter 6: Not What it Seems

Dante stood at the entrance of the hallway, overwhelmed by the amount of doors that lined the walls. Never before had he seen so many doors in one place. Not even the castle, where he had fought the King of the Underworld, had this many doors in one area. This was ridiculous! It was no wonder the master had given Helena and himself until midnight tomorrow to reach him. This place had so many doors to go through that it might take up the rest of the night to go through them, that was, if it was still night at all. Dante couldn't be sure just how long he had been unconscious after falling from the crumbling stairs.

He walked forward, unsure of where to begin looking. Many of the doors had to lead to useless rooms. But, which ones? He didn't want to waste his time looking behind all of the doors, which would be killing precious time. Suddenly, a shadow under one of the doors caught his eye. The shadow followed him as if there were no walls between the doors on the other side. Was it a demon? He couldn't be sure. There seemed to be some type of spell on the doors to prevent him from sensing what was on the other side. He couldn't even hear the thing's footfalls on the other side. A moment later, Dante saw the shadow come to an abrupt stop; obviously, the thing on the other side had noticed his shadows as well. But, Dante didn't care too much. He was curious as to what the thing was, and he wasn't about to be the first one to open the door.

The shadow suddenly zipped forward at an incredible speed. Was the demon afraid? Could it be that the demon had sensed Dante despite the spell and realized that it was obviously weaker? Or was it part of its plan to lure Dante until a certain point and attack? Either way, Dante wasn't about to let him get far. He darted forward to meet the speed of the thing on the other side. As he ran, he drew Ebony and readied for attack. The shadow suddenly stopped moving, as if trying to come up with a new plan of action. Dante stopped in between the door where the thing stood and the door beside it so that way his shadow wouldn't be seen; just to give the thing a false sense of hope. The door handle squeaked as the thing on the other side tried the door. At first, it didn't seem as if the door was going to open. Dante waited with unusual patience as the door slowly opened with a creak. He could slightly make out a hallway similar to the one he was in. With lightening speed, he bounded into the other hallway and pointed his gun, quickly backing up Ebony with its counterpart. He was met with a blade that was almost invisible; the blood stains on it giving it away.

"Dante?", Helena's eyes widened with surprise.

"The one and only", Dante smirked as he returned his guns to their place on his back.

Helena's sword disappeared into orbs of light, "Good to see you're alright"

Dante shrugged, "Why wouldn't I be?"

He wasn't about to admit that he had a pounding headache, which seemed to worsen by the minute.

"I see", Helena studied him, as if she knew better. Though, she said nothing as she looked down to examine the wound Rozzen had given her in battle.

"Doesn't seem like you had the same luck", Dante noted as Helena brushed her hand over the wound.

"This is why I hired you; because I don't fare well against demons", Helena informed as the wound healed, "Anyway, did you find anything?"

"Besides you? No", Dante replied.

Helena said nothing as she studied Dante, as if she knew he was hiding something.

"What?", Dante asked, "Is there something on my face?"

"Is that headache bothering you?", Helena asked.

Before Dante could say anything, she brought up a slender hand and brushed it across his forehead. Instantly, the headache Dante had been fighting to ignore was gone.

"You're cold", Helena noted, her hand on his cheek, "What happened?"

"I just had a run in with an ice demon, that's all", Dante shrugged, Helena's hand returning to her side. '_And I just about froze to death_', but he kept that to himself. "Anyway, what's up with all these doors?"

"The spell is to throw us off. The number of doors that line this hallway are just to overwhelm us. They are meant for us to spend our time pondering on which one to open first, which was foiled because our battles seemed to have ended at, almost, the same time", Helena replied, "But, now the question is; which hallway do we take? And don't you dare suggest splitting up"

Dante opened his mouth to speak before a shadow flitted over the torches. Both went into the defensive as they looked around. They waited back to back, searching for any possible threat. After a full minute, nothing came. All was silent as the torches returned to flickering normally once more. Dante brought his guns back down to his side as Helena took a step in the direction in which the shadow had gone.

"Something tells me that this is the way", Helena claimed.

"And what makes you say that?", Dante asked.

"Besides the obvious direction that the shadow went in? Intuition, that's what", Helena replied, looking back at him.

"And how many times is intuition actually right?", Dante tested, even though he knew that she was probably right.

Helena shrugged, "Most of the time. I'd say eighty times out of a hundred. Besides, can't you sense the negative energy coming from that direction as well? It's all too obvious"

It was faint, but the feeling was definitely there. It could almost be described as the feeling you have when you know you are being watched from afar. You could feel it but it wasn't a strong feeling.

"Yeah, I sense it", Dante admitted, "Let's go"

Helena followed alongside Dante as they walked to their, unknown, destination. Minutes of silence ticked by as the two walked down the seemingly endless hallway. Dante was board to the point that he was almost tempted to count each door, or torch, he passed. Sure, he wanted to run ahead, and he was sure Helena was in the same boat. But, running would be reckless since they couldn't be sure if there were any traps up ahead. Helena looked up above, just to see if she could see the ceiling. She expected darkness, so she almost didn't even bother. Though, when Helena did look up, her jaw almost dropped.

"Dante", Helena pointed upwards, "Look"

Dante followed her gaze to find what she was gawking at. Above them, they saw that the ceiling was transparent; almost as if they were looking at everything through the looking glass. It revealed that this place was under the streets of the slums Dante knew all too well. Even though they saw everything up above clearly, the few people that were walking alongside the streets remained oblivious as to what they stood over. '_Why hadn't I ever sensed this?_', Dante asked himself, but the answer didn't need much thought. The same spell that had been placed on the doors had, more than likely, been placed everywhere around the master's domain. But a smirk soon spread on his face when he saw his employer, Enzo, scurrying about above him. It was obvious that the stout man was on a frantic search for him; Dante stood enjoying his employers stress. Enzo had, more than likely, just went to Dante's office to find that the demon slayer was nowhere to be found. The man hated it when Dante took jobs without his knowing, and that's what made watching the ignorant Enzo a comic relief. Dante allowed himself a chuckle.

"I'm gonna hear it from him when we get this over with", Dante foretold, "not that I care, though"

"Why's that?", Helena looked at him confused.

"Enzo hates it when I take jobs and not tell him. He doesn't get any of the profit", Dante said, a teasing smirk on his face.

"If he really wants a part, maybe I'll take him out for a drink as well", Helena suggested, "Though, I know I'll regret it as soon as the idea is carried out"

"Nah, don't even bother. I like seein' the guy get his panties all in a bunch", Dante chuckled, "Well, we can't stand here making fun of everyone that walks above us. Let's get on with the show"

"Alright", Helena agreed.

They began to advance towards their unknown destination once more, though, faster than before; as if to make up for the time they lost while they were staring up at the town above. With every step they took, the negative energy grew stronger and stronger. Helena found that the butterfly mark on her arm was beginning to grow warmer. Nothing unbearable, though. '_This must be a sign that we are getting closer to whatever is up ahead_', Helena thought to herself. Their footfalls echoed softly as the needed silence loomed over the two. Dante willed himself to keep his mouth shut, knowing silence was their friend at the moment and that it would give away any enemy that decided to attack. One word and they could miss the signal that they were not alone. A red door soon came into view up ahead. Helena and Dante made quick eye contact, both knowing full well that the negative energy was coming from the other side of that door. Both walked carefully towards the large door, making sure that they didn't fall into any possible traps along the way. Helena raised her hand to open the door when a child's laughter echoed from the other side and down the hall. The laughter seemed innocent enough, though Dante and Helena knew better than to believe what they heard. Helena turned the knob and slowly opened the door.

"Just open it already", Dante kicked open the door with impatience.

Helena turned her head to glare at him, "Fool! There-"

"I'm so glad you could come", a child's voice interrupted, "It's been so long since I've had someone to play with"

Dante and Helena looked away from each other towards the room. It looked like a child's play room; in a creepy, gothic sort of way. Oversized, stuffed animals lined the dark room. A black crystal chandelier hung from the center of the room, barely giving the room enough light. There was also the faint sound of a music box coming from somewhere within the room. Demonic energy seeped from every inch of the masked innocence.

"Well", started Dante, "this is different"

"It's creepy", Helena muttered.

"Wow, two of you!", the child's voice echoed once more, innocence masking what it really was, "This will be fun"

"Come out little girl", Dante coaxed, waiting for the right moment to draw a weapon, "Make it quick and I might play with you"

"How exciting", the child giggled.

Dante and Helena watched as a shadow descended from the ceiling. In a matter of seconds, a little girl stood in the center of the room. Her long, snowy white hair was in two pigtails. She wore a gothic like, red dress with white frills decorating every hem. Her reddish eyes glowed in the mild darkness as an innocent smile betrayed what she really was.

"Master told me I could play with the guests", she then frowned in disappointment, "But, you guys don't look like much fun"

"Trust me", Dante smirked, "We're loads of fun"

The little girl giggled once more, "I'm glad to hear that. Because, I've been board for such a long time"

Helena looked at the girl and a shiver went down her spine. The child's demonic energy was far stronger than that of the rose demon. She knew that she might have to either sit this battle out or just be back up. Either way, she wasn't going to be much help to Dante. '_As useless as always_', Helena thought to herself.

"What do you want to play?", the little girl asked.

"Why don't we just cut to the chase and play tag", Dante was beginning to lose his patience with the little girl, though, his comments didn't lose their sarcastic tone, "Let's make it quick"

"Awww", the little girl pouted, "I thought we could play dolls"

As soon as those words left her mouth, she brought her hands up. A glimmer of something caught Dante's and Helena's eyes, but it was too late by that time. They found themselves bound by the almost invisible cord and unable to move. The girl's smile maintained its innocent façade as she held her captives in place. She cocked her head to the side, as if in curiosity, and closed her hands into fists; the cords that held them began to tighten around their limbs.

"Someone's gonna get a spanking when I get out of this", Dante threatened. He began to pull at the cord, hoping they would snap if he pulled hard enough. The attempt was futile.

"It's useless", the little girl informed, "These cords are designed to hold demons in place. Not even the son of Sparda can break through them"

"We'll just see about that", Dante muttered.

Helena closed her eyes and knit her brows, trying to ignore the fact that the cords were digging into her skin. Fresh blood tricked down from her wrists and ankles freely. The ribbon that had crisscrossed up her leg was now on the floor in shreds from when the cords had first lashed out at them. Though, all was nonexistent to her now as her lips began moving, forming silent words of a mysterious language. Dante noticed this at the corner of his eye, but said nothing. He didn't want to give her away if she was their ticket out of this mess. If he couldn't break out of these binds, he was going to have to depend on Helena's scheme. The child on the other side paid no attention to Helena's moving lips as she seemed to ponder as to what to do with her captives. Obviously, the girl hadn't had captives in a while, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as she could.

"Hmm, should I just rip your limbs off one by one? No, that won't do", the girl pondered, "I know, I'll just toss you two around like useless marionettes"

The girl brought both arms up with incredible speed and brought them back down to her sides. In sync with her movements, Dante and Helena were forced upwards and back down to the floor at the same incredible speed she had moved her arms. If they were human they would have been killed by the girl's trick. Dante sat up with some broken ribs as Helena spat out some blood as she too sat up, though, with a broken arm, still muttering whatever spell she was planning. '_What is taking her so long?! If she doesn't finish up quick, this little demon is going to kill us! And that is NOT going to look good on my reputation_', Dante thought as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, already beginning to feel his wounds healing thanks to his demonic blood. Devil Trigger would help heal him faster, but, he couldn't afford bringing that form out at the moment. Not if he would need it for later.

"That's no fun, because then you two will just break until you can't move anymore", the girl tapped her chin in thought before she noticed Helena muttering, "Hey you, girl! What are you mumbling about over there?"

She lifted her hand and pulled back on the string, forcing Helena to go to her as if she were a mindless drone. Helena continued to mutter her spell, oblivious to her surroundings now and oblivious that she was facing death at this very moment.

"Hey, its me you want little girl", Dante called out to distract her, though, using a tone as if he was offended that she would take interest in Helena and not him.

"Quiet you!" the girl shouted as Helena continued to mindlessly advance towards her, "You are none of my concern at the moment"

"BREAK THROUGH THAT WHICH BINDS ME", Helena shouted, the words suddenly clear to Dante and the girl, "BREAK THROUGH THAT WHICH BINDS THY ACCOMPLICE"

The cords that had their hold on the two suddenly went limp and turned into a thin trail of ashes. Helena slumped to the floor, no longer under the girl's control and exhaustion obvious on her face. The spell she used obviously had its disadvantages. Or, was it that the spells on the cords were too strong and had to be contradicted with an even stronger spell, sapping her energy.

"What just happened?", the little girl looked confused, "You shouldn't have been able to break through my cords, let alone turn them to ashes"

Dante went over to Helena and looked down at her, "I could have done that myself". Though, internally, he thanked her. He wouldn't show it; he valued his pride too much. Dante knew as well as Helena that breaking through the cords with strength alone was an impossible feat.

"Don't be ridiculous", Helena gasped, "You wouldn't have been able to break through those cords in a million years"

"Whatever", though, holding the fact that what she said was true, "But, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm gonna have to…sit this one out", she replied as the little girl on the other side of the room was stomping her feet in fury, "That spell took a lot out of me, considering how strong the spell on the cords were. I'm pretty sure you can handle the rest"

The little girl on the other side continued to stomp her feet in frustration, "No, no, NO! I wanted to play dolls! This isn't fair!"

"Stop your whining", Dante called out, "Brats like you don't deserve fair play"

The little girl sneered, "I'll kill you for destroying my precious cord. The cord that the master was so kind to help me make"

Her innocent façade no longer existed. Her true nature was now beginning to show as her snowy, white hair began to swirl around her tiny figure. Dante pulled out Ebony and Ivory, waiting for the moment the girl would attack. She summoned a black sword as she glared at Dante with her glowing blood red eyes. The sword was twice her size, yet, she held it as if it weighed nothing.

"Now this is what I'm talking about", Dante grinned, "Though, little girls shouldn't play with swords"

"Don't mock me!", her childish voice roared.

In an instant, she was gone. The chandelier above began to slightly swing back and forth, indicating that she was somewhere up above. Even so, Dante couldn't pinpoint exactly where she was at because of the darkness. Seconds ticked by and she didn't attack. Helena began looking around, fearing that the girl would attack _her_ instead of Dante first. Though, it seemed unlikely since the all of the girl's rage seemed to be directed at Dante.

"Alright", the little girl's voice echoed in the room, not giving away where she was hidden, "We'll play your game of tag. But, only because you are my guest"

The music from the music box grew louder. '_She's trying to cover up any sound she makes_', Dante noted. His eyes passed over all of the stuffed animals that lined the room. One of the oversized bears toppled over a moment later. Thinking that he had her, he released a barrage of bullets, riddling the stuffed animals in that direction with holes. Stuffing from the stuffed animals went flying into the air before it floated back down towards the floor.

"Dante!", he heard Helena cry out, her tone that of warning.

But, her warning came too late. A black blade jutted out of his chest, dark blood spraying out from the wound. Pain gripped him in an instant, but he put that in the back of his mind as quickly as it had come; he had, had worse than this. Though, something about the sword made him feel awkward. Was it absorbing his strength?

"To think that you are the son of that traitor", the little girl's voice came from behind, "You're not as good as your reputation says you are. I'll just take your demonic energy and use it for my benefits. I'll put your power to good use because it is a waste for you to keep it"

"Yeah?", Dante grinned, blood oozing down one side of his chin, "We'll just see about that"

He immediately pulled away from the blade, which astonished the little girl, and spun around towards his opponent, sending a barrage of bullets towards her. She had obviously expected him to stay immobilized as she drained him of his energy. The demon had no time to comprehend what had just happened, the shock leaving her speechless and robbed of movement. The bullets pierced the little girl with speed that couldn't be matched by any mortal man. Dark blood sprayed onto the stuffed animals behind her; staining the false innocence that had plagued the room. The little girl gasped as she fell to her knees, pain and disbelief swimming in the tears that brimmed her dimming eyes. Dante clutched his wound as he eyed the girl. He had obviously taken the girls weapon too lightly.

"Dante!", Helena called, still unable to move and holding her broken arm, "Are you alright?"

It was an obvious question with an obvious answer. It was obvious he wasn't alright, though, he wouldn't die from the wound. He had been through worse, and Helena knew this from his reputation. She willed herself not to worry as she would with any normal person.

"You aren't supposed to…aim a gun at a girl", the demon girl gasped.

"Yeah? And stabbing your elders is alright?", Dante retorted, his smart remarks still present.

The little girl snarled with tears streaming down her face before the darkness both Dante and Helena had seen from their first battles, appeared. The girl's snarl remained until she had completely disappeared. Both said nothing for a moment, as they knew what her fate was. '_She's not a devil_', Helena thought to herself, thinking about the girls tears, '_she's just a puppet_'.

"Damn, this is gonna take a while to heal", Dante muttered, staggering from losing some of his energy as he stepped towards Helena, "I can't believe the sword that little girl had"

Helena sighed with relief, "Are you going to be able to move forward?"

"I should be asking _you_ that", Dante argued, "It looks like you can barely walk"

He wiped the blood away from his chin before looking down to inspect the wound the demon had given him. Helena closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before standing up. She made her way over to Dante. Though, not without stumbling before she made it to him. Catching her second wind, she placed her hand over Dante's wound, muttering a spell before it healed instantly. She smiled, though the emotion didn't touch her eyes. That, she would save for when she got her sister back.

"Better?", she asked

"I thought you didn't have any energy left", Dante claimed.

"I won't be able to do any more major spells like before", Helena replied, as she removed her hand from Dante's wound to heal her broken arm, "I'll only be able to heal wounds, since that doesn't take much effort. For some reason, I feel somewhat refreshed; if you want an answer to your question". She waved her hand as if that topic was no longer of importance, messaging the now healed arm, "Anyway, what about your strength? From what I can tell, that girl's sword drained away some of your energy"

Helena stepped back slightly as she looked up at Dante. Only then did she realize just how much taller he was than her. He was a good two heads taller than her; or so she guessed. Dante shrugged his broad shoulders as a half reply to her question.

"I'm fine", he said, not really caring, "I'm pretty sure by the time the next fight comes around, I'll have all of my energy back"

"Not like it matters anyway", Helena commented, "You barely even use half of your strength when you fight"

"What can I say? I'm just too good", Dante boasted.

"Who wouldn't agree?", Helena smiled before shaking her head, her hair falling over her shoulders as she did so.

A moment after those words had left her mouth, the room began to shake fiercely. The black crystal chandelier over head crashed to the middle of the floor as the stuffed animals toppled over. The two half expected the room to crumble and give way under their feet just like the stairs. But, when the rumbling ceased, nothing happened. Dante and Helena looked at each other with confusion obvious on their face, before looking around.

"What just happened?", Helena asked aloud, trying to find what was different in the room.

Dante was doing the same, but soon came to the conclusion that everything was still the same, "I guess the only way to find out is if we go back the way we came. Maybe that girl's death triggered something"

Helena nodded, seeing no other explanation for what had just happened. In addition, the only way out was the door they came through anyway. So, they had no choice but to go back. She followed Dante towards the door, not knowing what to expect on the other side. When Dante reached the door, he quickly opened it, not wanting to procrastinate like he knew Helena would want to. Helena rolled her eyes at his carelessness.

"Does the word 'caution' mean anything to you?", she ranted

"Hey, you wanna get through this or not?", Dante argued, "If we take too long to do anything, we might not make it in time"

Helena sighed irritably before looking into what used to be the hallway. Instead, she saw a round room, similar in size to the one they were already in. The walls were a dark red with wooden floors that reflected the light from the chandeliers like a frozen lake. Stone grey gargoyles lined the round room like soldiers. A grand, black piano was in the center of the bright room. If it weren't for the gargoyles and the murals of the demons on the ceiling, one could have easily mistaken the place for a ballroom.

"Well", Dante started, looking behind him to see what Helena was looking at, "What do we have here?"

His icy blue eyes scanned each detail of the room, as if knowing that it wasn't as harmless as it looked. Helena walked ahead of Dante in to the room. That was when she noticed a red door on the other side, something written on it in gold. When she continued forward, she noticed that the door had no knob. The only object on the door was the inscription that read:

His hand shall stroke the key

Her throat holds the knob

One must put these together

For the way out

"Well, that's just great", Dante muttered, "As if we have all the time in the world to figure out a riddle. And, I'll let you know right now, I'm not very good at them"

"I think it means the gargoyles", Helena ignored him, "There are so many of them…they must have the key and knob hidden somewhere. Start looking"

"Hey, don't order me around", Dante argued

"Fine", Helena hissed, "_Please_ look for them"

"That's better", Dante smirked before beginning his search.

Helena rolled her eyes in irritation before beginning her own search.

A.N: I was having a deep urge to write about a demon in the form of a little girl. Innocent looking yet creepy. Anyway, the battle with her wasn't really planned out so I hope it turned out ok.


	7. No More

A.N: When I wrote this, I really didn't have much in mind except for the fact that I wanted Dante on a motorcycle at some point. Just remember, its kind of old so it might be boring and/or cheesy. But I thank you if you have stuck with it this long.

Chapter 7: No More…

As time went by, Helena began to rethink the meaning of the riddle. Their search was fruitless thus far. It only proved how little patience Dante had and how much Helena could take of searching for something she doubted was even there. She paused and glared at the next gargoyle, as if threatening it for an answer. Suddenly, her emerald eyes darted to the piano; a new thought in mind.

"His hand will stroke the key…", she walked over to the piano to noticed that some of the dust on the keys had been disturbed from recent use, "…her throat holds the knob"

"Of course", a knowing smile played upon her lips before she looked over at Dante, "Dante, I think I know what it means"

"Really? Good, because this is getting a little boring", Dante stated turning towards her.

"I think you have to play some of the keys on the piano", Helena ignored his statement like before.

"Sorry, I don't do pianos", Dante pointed out, "Guitars are more my thing"

"Listen, it's not like I'm asking you to play Beethoven or anything, even though you probably have no idea who that is", Helena stated, almost murmuring the last part, "I just need you to play a few of the keys and that's it"

Dante wanted to continue arguing, but time was something they couldn't afford to waste much of at the moment. He walked past Helena and looked down upon the foreign object called a piano. He noticed the few keys where the dust had been disturbed.

"Don't play those keys", Helena informed, noticing that he was eyeing the keys, "Just play one somewhere in the middle"

"Why?"

"Unless you want to be in a daze for the rest of the trip, I suggest you do just that", Helena replied.

"Right, I forgot about your little 'gift'", Dante remembered what she had said back at his office.

He scanned the keys and placed his finger down on one that was somewhere near the middle of the rest. Without waiting for her to give him the ok to go, he played the key. Helena made no comment about his haste; there was no time to. The playing of the key resulted in a beautiful ring, followed by Helena's voice. Dante couldn't help but look up at her as a short song in an unfamiliar language matched the tone he had just played. After the short performance, a golden handle formed itself onto the door. The golden letters seemed to burn away as they were replaced with another golden engraving of a gargoyle.

"I know that they went this way for sure", Helena whispered to herself.

Though, the small sense of victory was outdone by the sound of stone cracking. Dante smirked as he unsheathed his sword, turning around to face a room full of gargoyles breaking out of their stone shells. Helena gritted her teeth as she took hold of her own sword.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!", Helena exclaimed, "I don't have time for this"

"Well, doll", Dante started, obviously pleased by the turn of events, "looks like you're just going to have to grin and bear it"

Helena glared at him, "Your enthusiasm annoys me"

Dante shrugged as he charged in to attack a horde of gargoyles. Helena shook her head before a smile played upon her lips, "But, I guess, if you didn't enjoy your job, you wouldn't even bother doing it"

She charged into the small battlefield and attacked a group of gargoyles that decided they would try to take Dante's back by surprise. Helena took them out in a single strike, slicing all of them in half. Their sliced bodies landed on the floor behind Dante and began to pool blood on the once beautiful wood. The demon slayer turned around and smirked at Helena.

"I can take care of myself you know", Dante said as he took down another gargoyle.

"Hey, I have to do _some_thing", she shrugged, "otherwise, I'll just be sitting on the sidelines the whole time like a damsel in distress"

"When you put it that way…", Dante smirked, "…alright then, let's wrap up this boring party and get the hell out of here"

************************************************************************

Television and computer screens buzzed with images and information, lighting up the usually dark room with a bluish light. Stout, reptilian creatures scurried about the room with maddened haste, knowing exactly what needed to be done as if they were born to do their job. Many carried files as they chattered amongst themselves, giving other's orders in a language many would find obnoxious after being with them for some time. Though, one did not mind their language as others might have. At one television screen stood the master, tall and dark in his black clothing. His golden eyes reflected the glowing images around him; though, he kept his gaze on one screen only. The screen showed a silver haired man and a raven haired beauty walking out of the piano room and bickering as they made their way out into the hallway, picking pieces of rubble from their clothes and hair. Obviously, some of the stone gargoyles hadn't broke free completely before attacking them, resulting in a mess of debris all over their prey. The camera angle was from above, just like all of the others, so he couldn't really read lips to catch what they were arguing about. But, that was of little importance since getting the next trap ready was what really mattered.

Of course, the master knew that the trap was all in vain, just like all of the others. The son of the legendary Dark Knight Sparda never broke a sweat when it came to the things he threw at him. So, why send the traps his way then? '_I want to see what skills you have gained after the last time we met_', he golden eyes flickered towards the next television screen as the two walked into a dark hallway. The silver haired demon slayer made some remark and the black haired beauty seemed to agree with him. Whatever the remark was, the woman had made a rare agreement with it. The master, knowing that it would take some time for the two to reach their next destination, turned swiftly away from the screens and made his way through the stout demons scurrying about, towards a fairly large brown door, which stood out amongst the stone walls like a sore thumb.

He quickly slipped through the door and closed it behind him; this room was off limits to his employees and he had made sure that each and every one of them was aware of that beforehand. This room was made of stone as well, but the lamp lights that lit the room brightly did away with the feel of a dungeon. The room was large; about the size of a fairly large house with no rooms. 'A good place for a sparing match' was the comment the master had made to himself. This was the exact place he wanted to fight the son of Sparda. It was a spacious room with nothing in it; nothing but a prisoner whom he'd remove shortly after he was done with the sparring. She was an eighteen year old girl with burgundy hair that just barely flowed over her shoulders. Emerald green eyes glared at the master from where she was, limbs bound. She wore a black, biker-like, sleeveless, leather vest. Leather shorts clung to her legs, matching the vest. She wore boots, of the same leather, that stopped at her knees. She was pretty, but a scowl distorted her pretty face.

"They'll kill you", she threatened, "They'll kill you. You'll see"

"Come Tara", the master started, "Surely you have something nice to say"

"To you? Yeah, when pigs fly!", Tara protested childishly, her eyes narrowing.

"If looks could kill…", the master chuckled innocently.

Tara looked away, finding a crack in a stone to stray her attention. She knew that, if she weren't bound, she would have her hands around the man's throat in no time at all. The master knelt down in front of her with an eerie grace; even so, Tara kept her attention diverted away from him.

"What would you say if I brought in a guest to keep you company?", the master asked, "I know it can get awfully lonely in here…but I just don't have time to keep you company until they arrive. I have other matters to attend to, that, I'm sorry to say, are much more important than you"

Tara didn't budge. If he was about to send in one of those annoying reptilian creatures in here, she would find a way to kill herself so she wouldn't have to listen to it's irritating tongue; and the only weapons were the chains she was bound in. The master snapped his fingers and part of the wall Tara had been gazing at suddenly slid open. She could see nothing but darkness.

"He's not complete, but, he'll do", the master stood

A brown boot stepped out from the darkness. Tara gasped, knowing all to well who the person was.

************************************************************************

"I think this hallway has a spell on it too", Helena suddenly stated as she came to a stop, placing her hands on her hips and putting her weight on one leg.

"What makes you say that?", Dante scratched the back of his head, annoyed with the fact that the mission was getting boring once more. The whole mission had been filled with weak demons and seemingly endless hallways thus far. Would it ever end?

"Look", Helena pointed towards the ground.

Dante looked down to see what she was pointing at. It was the coin Dante had lent her earlier.

"Any suggestions on how to get outta here?", Dante asked as he picked up his coin and placed it in his pocket.

Helena looked around the hallway before answering, "There has to be a room behind one of these walls. Look for something out of the ordinary"

"This is getting really boring", Dante complained as he went to scan the walls, "Searching for stuff like this and finding hidden meanings isn't really my thing. And, would battles with a little more challenge be too much to ask for?"

"I apologize", Helena replied as she brushed her hand over one of the grey stones, "But, it seems that the master isn't the type to ambush much, or send out his best demon pawns for that matter"

"Grade school had much more excitement than this", Dante emphasized his boredom.

************************************************************************

It took a few hours, but Helena finally found a section of the wall that was different than the others. The torch light in that area blew more forward than the others in the hall, which could only mean that there was a room on the other side. After trying to figure out how to get into the room, both came to the conclusion that Dante should just barrel through with Rebellion. Keeping the place clean of their intrusion was no longer an option; they were being forced to leave their mess behind and allow the stray demons to follow pursuit if they found the debris. Dante removed his sword and stood on the other side of the hall to give himself room to strike. With inhuman speed, Dante raced towards the wall and broke it down with Rebellion. The grey bricks crumbled towards the ground in pieces and a cloud of dust as Dante turned towards Helena with a triumphant smile, like a school boy proud of his work. Helena nodded in approval before looking past Dante to see what was in the other room as Dante turned to see for himself.

"What the-?", Dante started.

Helena could only gaze at the large room with confusion. The room was round, just like the last one, but many times larger than that. Crisp green grass covered the entire floor; one could only guess that the grass was artificial, given as to where they were at. The brick wall of this room had been painted with the scenery of clear skies and green trees. Artificial light showered down upon the room like a false sense of hope upon the artificial tranquility of the place. For once, they could see the ceiling, which now seemed strange for one to actually exist in this place. Trees scattered themselves lightly around the room. Large boulders were placed here and there, all covered in moss and fallen leaves. It looked like the perfect place to relax, but Dante and Helena knew better than to believe what they saw. They knew something had to be amiss here. Nothing in the demon world ever went untainted by a devils presence.

"It's too peaceful", Helena muttered, finding the uneasy silence unbearable.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing", Dante agreed, "This place just reeks of demons"

"The question is, where are they hiding?", Helena asked aloud.

Both glanced around as they stepped further into the room, the grass and fallen leaves crunching under their footfalls. Their eyes scanned the walls, ceiling and anything else in the room, just to see if they had missed anything during their first look-around. Even though they saw nothing but what they had seen coming in, they didn't dare let down their guard. As Helena started her third scan of the room, she noticed a door on the other side. It was painted green; meant to be invisible among the green scenery painted on the wall. The only thing that gave it away was the shadow of the green handle that was cast upon the door.

"I believe that that's our way out of here", Helena gestured towards the door.

"I believe you're right", Dante replied, noticing the door as well. Before the two could even take another step across the grass covered floor, a high pitched squeal echoed in the large room. Helena immediately went into the defensive as Dante looked around with a defiant grin.

"You better make this worth my while", Dante spoke aloud, "I've been disappointed for too long"

His remark set off another inhuman shriek, this time loud enough to make Helena wince and cover her ears. Dante crossed his arms as he shifted his weight; as if time wasn't an important matter at the moment. With his back to Helena, he noticed the trees shaking madly like a ferocious wind was blowing threw them. Demons suddenly leaped from the trees with their claws and fangs bared, screeching as they did so. The demons were sexless in appearance, though, they were obviously the souls of the demonic plants they sprung from; tainted plants grown in the under world for ambushes such as this. Helena immediately summoned her weapon, which was still partially stained from the battle with Rozzen. The blood stains served as a second reminder of why she would rid of the master; to end the killing of kind devils. Dante made it seem as if he had no intention of drawing any weapon as he eyed the demons with a sarcastic grin on his face.

"You guys look pretty weak, but I guess I'll give you a chance to show me what you got", Dante coaxed.

"I don't think these guys will be any problem", Helena noted, "And that's coming from me"

Dante shrugged, "Whatever. I just wish I had some action in this dump your master calls home"

Helena glanced at Dante, noticing a lustful look in his eyes; a lust for blood. A burning desire for revenge upon any demon that dared to cross his path with bad intentions burned in his eyes, which was poorly concealed by a triumphant grin. Any normal person wouldn't have been able to notice this, that is, unless one lived with him for some time. But, Helena was a different case. She could read emotions like a well educated adult reading a child's book; simply. The demons bound towards their prey in a flash, giving the two only a split second to react. Helena dodged the three demons that had decided to attack her, and made a come back with a graceful side slash with her blade, only to miss them by inches. Dante, on the other hand, leapt into the air at the last possible moment before sending down a barrage of bullets towards his enemies.

Unlike the bird demons Dante had faced upon first arriving, these demons were smarter and quicker. Helena quickly adjusted to her enemies' tactics, easily matching their speed as she bounded towards them with another attack. Dante landed as agile as a cat after his jump, Ebony and Ivory gripped firmly in his gloved hands. If the demons thought that they were quick, then they hadn't seen anything yet. The silver haired demon slayer quickly disappeared from where he was as his enemies lunged forward to attack. Helena dodged another attack with ease and went in for another strike, managing to stab one in the heart. It screeched loudly in pain as it writhed on the ground, green blood oozing from where she had stabbed it. The two remaining demons that were attacking seemed to be taken back for a moment, surprised that one of their own had been killed. They retreated back for a moment, but lunged forward as if thinking that her first victory must have been a fluke. Dante had the same luck over on his end of the battle; two of the four demons had fallen to Rebellion in a matter of seconds. The remaining two scampered away for a moment, before leaping towards Dante with claws and teeth ready to pierce him, thinking that his first victory must have been a fluke as well. Yet again, Dante was a silver and red blur as he dodged their attack.

Helena grinned as the two remaining enemies fleeted towards her. Matching their speed and outwitting them wasn't difficult after a few moments of fighting against them. In fact, any idiot would be able to come up with a counter attack after some time. She ducked as soon as the demons lashed out at her in unison, just barely missing her head. Taking the opportunity of their open backs, Helena slashed both in half as if slicing through butter. The two facing Dante met the same fate at almost the exact same time; Rebellion slicing through the remaining two with no difficulty at all. In fact, it left him board enough to fake a yawn as the demons writhed in pain, screeching loudly.

"This is getting really boring", Dante complained, "Where's all the fun?"

Helena shrugged as she stepped forward, her sword disappearing as it usually did, "Maybe it's all being saved for the end. Nonetheless, if the demons are this easy for the rest of the trip, we'll make it to the master in no time"

"If I wanted a boring job, I would have just stayed at the office and waited for Enzo to show up", Dante added.

"Trust me, I have a feeling that the best is being saved for the end", Helena assured.

"Well, that better be soon. A man can die from boredom you know?", Dante replied as he put Rebellion away.

"Sure, I'll just snap my fingers, ok?", Helena crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to one leg.

"Hey, sarcasm is my job" Dante said as he put Rebellion away.

Helena rolled her eyes with a grin before letting her arms rest at her side once more, turning towards the door. Though, she immediately stopped in her tracks when she noticed something red poking out from behind one of the large rocks next to the door. Dante noticed her confused gaze and turned to look for himself. Sensing that whatever was on the other side of the rock wasn't immanent, Dante strode forward coolly. Helena remained where she was as she eyed Dante, a confused look still in her eyes.

"Well, looky what we have here", a childish grin crept upon his face.

Helena crept forward to see what Dante was looking at. There, she saw a familiar red motorcycle. It was the one she would see everyday when she went to work; never knowing who it belonged to. Now, it was clear that it belonged to the master. Though, just the familiarity didn't subdue the fear she had for motor bikes. The cherry red bike glistened mockingly in the artificial light.

"This baby could get us to the big guy faster", Dante eyed the bike, inspecting it for any thing that could be wrong with it.

"I doubt that riding the bike is such a great idea in this area. I don't even think that the next area will be suitable for riding a bike", Helena said, secretly refuting.

Dante opened the door, which both now stood by, to reveal a hallway that was endless in appearance. Helena's heart jumped into her throat, realizing just how suitable the terrain was for the bike; the hallway was wide with a flawless ground. The silver haired demon slayer eyed her for a moment before shaking his head.

"Don't tell me you're scared to ride", Dante began in disbelief.

Helena said nothing as a slight blush crept onto her face, embarrassed she looked away. Dante spread his hands, "C'mon, I won't let anything happen to you, alright? There's nothing to be afraid of, I'm driving"

"That's part of why I'm worried", she muttered.

"I heard that", Dante crossed his arms before adding his signature sarcasm, "It hurts my feelings when someone doesn't trust me"

"Really?", Helena returned the sarcasm, "Wow, I'm surprised that you aren't in depression by now"

"Hey,", he shrugged coolly, "I get over it quickly"

"Then why should I care?", Helena smirked

Dante sighed, knowing that she was trying to avoid getting on the bike, "Ok, no more stalling. Can you get on so we can get outta here? We're burnin' daylight, or, whatever the hell it is we're wasting"

Helena rolled her eyes, "Fine. But, I swear: you let me fall and-"

"Relax", Dante emphasized, "I won't let anything happen to you, alright? I promise"

If it weren't for the reassuring look on his face or the time limit, Helena would have flat out said no. But both wouldn't allow her to turn the offer down. Defeated, Helena seated herself behind Dante on the motorcycle.

"What about your sword? I can't stay seated behind you if that's on your back", Helena stated, looking at the skull on the hilt before looking down at the blades menacing tip.

"Hm, your right"

Helena mentally kicked herself for what she was about to say, knowing it was going to speed up the ride on the motorcycle she detested, "I can do the same thing that I do with my weapon, if you let me"

"Will I get it back?", Dante questioned, "I don't want my sword lost in some other dimension because of you"

"Relax, it works with any object I choose to do it with. It just happens that I only want my sword with me", Helena reassured

Dante sat in silent debate for but a second before he allowed her to place her hands on Rebellion and turn it into orbs of light. He watched, almost sickly, as his sword went to a place he knew not of.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back in a flash as soon as you need it", Helena smiled, even though Dante had his back to her.

"You might wanna hold on, this is gonna be a wild ride", Dante informed her, wanting to get going. He wanted his sword back as soon as possible.

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in has back, eyes squeezed shut. Her heart began pounding as soon as Dante started the engine. '_I hope I don't die of a heart attack_', she thought to herself. The silver haired demon slayer grinned before spinning the motorcycle in a complete circle and bolting into the hallway with a confident speed. Helena slightly tightened her grip around the demon slayer, though, just barely leaving him enough room to breath. Even pretending that she was on a rollercoaster was impossible with Dante's driving.

"You doing alright back there?", Dante asked over the roaring motor.

Helena just nodded against his back; her voice had been left behind in the room and it had yet to catch up with her. '_If you crash this bike and kill me, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life…I swear!_', Helena threatened mentally, hoping Dante would somehow get her message through telepathy.

"I'm going to make a jump", Dante informed, "So, don't go freaking out on me when you feel like you're falling"

"mm-hm", was all she could manage to get out.

Suddenly, she felt the bike lift up from the ground with a thrust. She could only imagine what they were jumping over, the wheels continuing to spin as if there were an invisible ground. She held her breath as her heart jumped into her throat, as if it knew better than her what they were jumping over. Though, a small part of her was thrilled by this small taste of what it was like to fly. A _very_ small portion. After what seemed like an eternity, the bike landed with a thud and came to a stop.

"Are you still alive back there?", Dante asked, slightly turned; though, it was a little difficult considering the fact that Helena was practically squeezing him to death.

"Yeah, I think so", she willed herself to release her hold around him. As if to push her courage, she looked back at what they jumped over. It was easily about thirty feet across with nothing but darkness at the bottom. She had underestimated how well he could handle the motorcycle.

"Alright, let's get moving", Dante turned again.

Helena wrapped her arms around him once more, though, not as tightly. After seeing what he had accomplished (well, she really didn't _see_ it) she trusted his ability now. The bike sped away down the hallway at an extremely fast, but confident, pace. It was quiet between the two for a moment, the only sound being the motor roaring as Dante pushed the bike to its limits. Helena willed herself to open her eyes and look at the blurring surroundings they sped past.

"Do you think we're close?", Helena asked, her black hair billowing back as the motor bike rushed forward. Whether she meant the boss or the end of the hall, Dante didn't know.

"I can't really tell", he admitted, answering both questions honestly.

"Mm", was her reply before changing the subject, "I change my mind"

"About what?", Dante asked, scanning the hall for any changes that could suddenly come up in the terrain.

"Instead of one night of drinks, I'll make it two"

"Why the change of mind?", Dante asked, "Not that I'm complaining or anything"

"The second is an apology"

"For what?"

"Well", Helena started, yelling over the motor, "I haven't been as thankful as I should for your helping me; that's one reason. And, the second reason is for ever doubting you"

"You shouldn't even worry about it", Dante answered, his sarcasm out of the matter for the moment, "I'm pretty much used to that kind of thing. Besides, you're worried about your sister who was kidnapped by some maniac. Who wouldn't be on edge and biting peoples' heads off?"

"True", Helena sighed, "Either way…I'm still giving you two nights. You deserve it"

"Deicide that _after_ I've taken out the big guy", Dante responded.

"Sure", Helena smiled.

Though, the smile immediately faded into confusion when a high-pitched whistling sound gradually came in upon the two riding the motorcycle. Helena looked behind her just in time to see a reddish-orange streak heading their way.

"Dante!", she exclaimed.

In less than a second, Dante grabbed Helena and jumped up from the bike towards the endless ceiling. Not even a second later, the bike exploded underneath them as they gradually descended towards the ground. Debris from the bike landed in fiery heaps on the stone floor, which had been partly blown as well and blackened by the flame.

"C'mon man", Dante complained after landing and releasing Helena, "I finally find something worth while in this dump and it gets blown to smithereens"

Another whistling sound came hurdling towards them not long after his complaint. Not even thinking, Helena grabbed Dante by the collar and pulled him down, barley missing the object that came at them. The silver haired demon slayer landed on top of Helena, caught off guard by her sudden action. As he propped himself up, he looked down at her with a smirk.

"I don't think that this is the right time and placed to do this", Dante began, his signature smirk on his face.

Helena blushed with embarrassment as she pushed Dante away from her, "Get off of me!", she snapped, "This is hardly the time for that kind of remark"

"Well, well", a gruff voice echoed down the hall, "So the master's experiment returns after one hundred years"

Dante stood, helping Helena up as well as if to compensate for his remark. Helena looked around, confused by the remark the mystery being had made.

"Experiment?", Helena mused, her heart sinking as if she knew just what the man was getting at.

"You were the one master messed up on", the gruff voice went on, continuing to echo down the halls.

Helena shook her head as her heart sank even deeper. Dante looked around, "Why don't you come out and show yourself instead of toying with her emotions, or are you too much of a coward?"

"I guess I'll show myself, but only if you promise me that you won't die so easily", the voice responded.

"Don't worry about it", Dante grinned, "I promise I won't"

"Very well". Just then, a huge man descended from the ceiling. He stood about five feet higher than Dante, his body looking like a man with a beer belly and bulky arms. His skin was a sickly yellow as his eyes were an even more disgusting shade of yellow. His head had only a thin layer of black hair, as if he were balding. He wore nothing but a pair of tattered and soiled pants. His large hands held a rocket launcher, aiming it at them as a grin etched into his hideous face, decaying teeth showing through parted lips.

"You're the son of Sparda, aren't you?", the demon asked casually.

"And what if I am?", Dante retorted.

"I'm just curious as to why the son of Sparda is helping an experiment gone wrong", the demon started, "Do you have any idea what she could do to you if she ever turned on you?"

"Yeah, there's always that 'if' isn't there?", Dante shrugged, "But, I don't think she's gonna turn on the man helping her rescue sister. Besides, I would never forgive her if she never took me out for those drinks she promised me"

"I'm _not_ an experiment! Your lying!", Helena cried out, "I'm not a mistake. My sister and I-"

"The master said you had no key to helping him in his plans of taking over the human realm, so he got rid of you. Two years later, your sister was created and she, too, was nothing but waste", the monster shrugged, "Must be a real drag not knowing just how much you can do"

"Hey!", Dante interrupted, "Big guy! Are we going to get this over with or not? The two of us don't have much time, so if you could make this quick that would be nice"

"Sure, sure", the demon acknowledged, "But, before we do anything, the master wanted me to say this: M"

"M? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!", Dante retorted.

"A clue the master wanted me to give you", the monster shrugged, making it obvious that he was only the messenger.

"And that is supposed to help me with…what exactly?", Dante urged, annoyed that the clue seemed irrelevant to the matter at hand. What did a letter have to do with anything?

"Don't ask me", the monster pointed out, "I was just told to deliver the message, that's all"

"Whatever", Dante drew his twin guns and pointed them at the demon, "Let's just get this over with"

The demon shrugged, "Suit yourself"

With that, the demon brought up his rocket launcher and released a stream of small missals that sprayed out from the sides of the weapon. The bullets whistled as they darted towards Dante in a spiraling dance, as if trying to seem innocent over their true intents. Failing in doing so, Dante slid over to the side as Helena pressed her body against the wall, the missals darting past and just barely missing them. They continued to whistle down the hallway, as if asking for forgiveness for failing their master.

"If this is all you can do", Dante started moving forward, "then you're not gonna live long"

"I was just testing you", the demon stated, a smug look on his hideous face, "Though, I shame myself for ever thinking less of you"

"I can't believe that you ever had the smallest hint in your mind that I would fall for those puny things", Dante responded, "That's really insulting"

Suddenly, Helena's soft voice, in the form of a song, reached both of their ears. Yet again, it was in the language Dante was oblivious to. Dante turned to her as the hideous demon looked over in her direction with a snarl, fright slightly appearing in his eyes. Her emerald eyes were fixed on the demon with a burning rage apparent in them, like an emerald fire. Whatever she was singing, it was taking a small affect on Dante. But, the demon he had been facing for a short period of time was not so fortunate. The sickly looking demon covered his ears as he wailed in pain, blood oozing out between his fingers and down his arms. He was soon on his knees, failing miserably at stopping Helena's power from doing further harm. Dante slightly backed away from the writhing demon, not wanting to get caught if the demon decided to lash out in fury. But, just walking backwards proved to be a difficult feat in itself, considering the fact that Helena's power left him almost robbed of all of his movements.

"Hey!", Dante called out, "I thought I told you that this demon was mine"

Helena ignored his objection, continuing her death-chant. Whatever the words were, she seemed to mean each one with every fiber of her being. Soon, Dante began to feel slightly nauseous. Still, it was nothing compared to the affect that the demon was having to the chant. Blood oozed from every opening on his face, as if he were about to burst. In a matter of minutes, the demon's wails had subsided to a slight whimper as Helena's song came to an end. It was obvious that the demon was dying as he lay twitching on the ground, eyes wide open in fear. Dante had to swallow the nauseous feeling just so he could regain his usual demeanor.

"Why'd you take my fight?", Dante started his usual sarcasm, "Sure, it looked boring but-"

"Because we have to get through this as quick as possible to save my sister", Helena paused for a moment, her words icy, "and find out if what that monster said was true"

"I'm pretty sure we have plenty of time", Dante suggested.

"I don't want to take any chances", Helena murmured, looking to the side to divert her attention for a moment before looking back up at Dante, ridding of the coldness in her voice, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, why?", Dante shrugged, trying to ignore the fact that the hallway was practically spinning, feeling he might look like a drunk man if he were to try and walk.

"Why must all men be this way?", she muttered under her breath before stepping forward, "Just wait a few minutes and the feeling will wear off"

"I said-"

"Shh", she placed a finger on his lips, "We're going to sit here until you feel better. Nausea is one thing I can't get rid of. I think it should be alright if we spared a few minutes", she then took her finger away from his lips and let her hand rest at her side, what she had said about not having enough time almost meaning nothing now.

"Who are you, my mother? I said I was fine, so lets go", Dante protested like a child who was wanting something regardless of what it would do to him.

"If it's your pride you don't want to hurt, don't worry about it. I won't let anyone know about what happens here", Helena informed, "I'm not the type to blabber about stuff"

Dante seemed to sense that arguing with his employer wasn't going to get them anywhere but him into a world of increasing nausea. He sighed irritably and sat down with his back propped against the wall, "Fine, but only if you promise to let me have the next fight"

"Promise", Helena nodded, before seating herself against the same wall though, keeping some space between her and the demon slayer.

Helena used her black hair as a curtain between herself and Dante as her sight began to blur by unwanted tears. Her sister had been kidnapped and now she had just found out that she and her sister were experiments that had gone wrong. Neither human nor demon; they had no race to call their own. She clutched where the dress lay on her lap, anger and sadness battling inside her mind. Though, it seemed like sadness was getting the best of her. Frustration and loneliness soon found their way into her mind as well. Being frustrated with her life because of everything that had occurred since her childhood and, the loneliness came because her love for life shrank to almost nothing. Helena gritted her teeth as a sob threatened to escape out of her, hot tears brimming her eyes. She closed her eyes with regret, causing the tears that brimmed to cascade down her cheeks. Still, she choked back the sobs so Dante wouldn't hear. She was thankful once more for the curtain of hair that allowed her to hide her face.

Dante gradually began to feel the nauseous feeling to subside as he sat in an unusual silence against the wall. He didn't want to admit it, but if Helena hadn't suggested that he rest, he wouldn't have been able to make it without a few casualties here and there. Only moments after he had sat down, Dante heard a slight whimper come from Helena. Dante diverted his attention away from his thoughts and looked over at the young woman. Her black hair didn't allow him to see the expression on her face as her body trembled. Though, he didn't need to see her face to know that she was crying. Her slightly tear-stained dress was more than enough of a clue to that fact.

"What's the matter, doll?", Dante asked, biting back the urge to use sarcasm.

Helena just shook her head, refusing to look him in the eyes as she wiped the tears away in embarrassment; all was in vain for trying so hard to get him to think that she wasn't crying. No matter how hard she tried to seem tough, there was no way she could handle this situation with a poker face. After so many years of trying to live a normal life, suddenly fate brought an unfortunate event upon her sister and herself. It was bad enough that she had to call the legendary son of Sparda for help, which seemed like something that would have never happen in her lifetime. Sure, she had always been interested in meeting him, but not under these circumstances.

Dante stood up and walked over to Helena, then squatted down in front of her, "Hey, don't go having a breakdown just yet. You still have your sister to save, if, by some chance, you've forgotten about that"

Helena did not look up, too embarrassed to look him in the eye. Dante sighed and lightly tilted her head up to look at him.

"Besides", Dante started, wiping a tear away from under her eye, "Devils never cry"

Dante knew when the time came to stop his sarcasm and give some reassuring advice. It wasn't some charity act though; how could he keep his image of a devil slayer if he were to constantly play the part of a guidance counselor? A rare, reassuring smile found its way to Dante's lips before he stood up and offered his hand to her. Helena wiped away the remaining tears but hesitated at taking his hand.

"But-"

"No 'buts'. You wanted me to help you get your sister back and destroy the devil right? That's exactly what I'm going to do and you are going to help me. Now turn off the water works and lets get on with this, or do you not remember the time limit?", Dante objected.

Helena took his hand and stood up, not knowing what to say. Dante patted her on the shoulder and started walking ahead. She quickly shook her head of all the doubts left in her mind and trotted to catch up with Dante. She wasn't about to let frustration get the best of her now.

"Oh, wait!", Helena started.

"What?"

"Your sword", Helena smiled, "Would you like it back?"

"Do I really need to answer that question?"

Helena held her hands out if she were holding the hilt of an invisible sword, orbs of light forming around her hands and forming the shape of Dante's sword. In a matter of seconds, Rebellion was in her hands and glistening in the torch lights.

"Here you go", Helena struggled to keep the sword in her hands, the weight of it almost pulling her down.

"Haha", crossed his arms, "Not so light, is it?"

"Just take it before I fall over!", Helena exclaimed.

He received his blade from her and placed it in the hilt on his back, "Alright, lets go"

As Helena watched him turn, the thought of Dante being a half breed soon sprung up in her mind. Had she been so stupid to think that she was the only one to not have a race to call her own? Helena caught up with Dante in a matter of seconds, wondering if that fact ever bothered him. She smiled as she looked ahead, '_My matters are trivial compared to what others have gone through. From this point on, no more doubts or self-pity_'


	8. Ice Cold

I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

A.N: I will upload the other chapters soon

Chapter 8: Ice Cold

The little bit of peace that had found the two didn't last long. Lesser demons began to attack them as they made their way down the seemingly endless hallway. Ever since Helena had shaken away the doubts, she felt lighter. Now it seemed easier to execute her fluid like attacks. However, Dante remained the same (of course!). Flawless offense and defense accompanied by the boredom of a fight unworthy of effort. Was all of the fun really being saved for the end? Dante was bored out of his mind and he didn't know how much more disappointment and boredom he could take in one day. The silver haired demon slayer quickly stepped to the side as a demon tried to slice him in half. He danced out of the way of the others that were seeming to get a little too full of themselves as they brought down their freakishly huge scythes. Helena twirled out of the way of a charging demon and ducked out of the way of another. Her grace, Dante thought to himself, could never be matched. But, there was no way he would say that out loud. Not when he was just bringing his sarcasm back onto the battlefield. Helena smirked as a demon just barely missed her by a few centimeters. Sliding to the side, she brought down her weapon and sliced the ghastly demon in two. It disappeared into darkness with an eerie cry. Dante swung Rebellion around like it was a child's toy. Though, his swordsmanship was anything else _but_ child's play.

Five demons were taken out by Dante's sword as ten others advanced. Their large scythes glowed with bloodlust, though; it could never match Dante's own bloodlust against demons. Nothing could ever match his hatred for them. Even so, he would never show it completely unless he was pushed over the edge, and he had a feeling that the master of this place was going to be the one to do just that. As Dante took out another demon, he sighed irritably. Was there no end to these annoying guests? Even though Helena didn't look it, she feared about the time limit. She had no idea just how long it had been since they arrived in this domain. The butterfly tattoo she had almost forgotten all about grew warmer by the hour. Was it a sign that the two were getting closer to their destination? Was she getting closer to her sister Tara? Both questions urged Helena to work through the battle faster.

"This is getting on my nerves", Helena said through clenched teeth. She sliced down another demon, only to have five more appear in its place.

"I never do this, but, I say we just make a run for it", Dante suggested over to dying demons, their dark blood oozing all over the floor before being swallowed up in the darkness.

"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that Dante", Helena smirked as she diced a demon that had thought it smart to execute an aerial attack.

"I wouldn't if we didn't have a time limit", Dante admitted, not too thrilled by his own suggestion.

"Alright", Helena nodded, "On the count of three we run for it"

"Three!", Dante called, as impatient as ever.

Without hesitating, the two bolted down the endless hallway. The demons followed pursuit, not intending to let their prey escape. Their eerie cries echoed down the hallway as their scythes screeched against the walls upon expanding their already enormous size. Dante and Helena pushed off the walls for extra momentum as they tried to outrun the demons, and it was working. Sure, Dante considered using his devil trigger for an unmatchable speed. But he didn't want to carry Helena, who was sure to object to the plan. In addition, devil trigger was hardly necessary now that the demon's cries were nothing but a faint sound in the distance.

"Do you think it's safe to stop?", Helena asked as she pushed off another wall.

"I think so", Dante smirked, "it would take them a while to catch up to us, considering how slow they move"

That said, the two descended to the floor and came to a jogging stop. "What now? We just keep walking?"

"That's the plan", Dante said as he walked forward coolly.

Helena sighed irritably, following him, "I hope we're close. We're loosing precious time in this hallway"

"Well, if tall, bald and yellow didn't decide to blow up the motorcycle, we could have cut off half of the time easily", Dante pointed out.

Helena sighed silently as she scanned the hallway with no interest. Before she could even open her mouth to say something, a rumbling sound echoed down the hallway. The two looked around, thinking that another enemy was on the way.

"What is it this time?", Dante looked around, annoyed, "It better not be some weak demon again"

"I don't thi-"

Before she could finish, the walls and floor crumbled around them in an instant. Helena grabbed onto Dante upon reflex, the only thought in her mind being that she did not want to get separated from him again.

"This is really getting old!", Dante yelled out as they fell, "I'm really getting tired of crumbling floors!!"

Helena paid no attention as she tightened her grip on Dante's coat, suppressing the urge to scream as they fell. She couldn't see what they were falling towards being that she had her eyes shut tight, but she could hear water gurgling below them.

"Don't worry, we won't get separated again", Dante told her, "Just hold on tight 'cause this is gonna be really cold"

She opened her eyes quickly and looked up at Dante then down towards the water they were descending towards. There were ice patches floating in the large pool of water, as if taunting the two with its temperature. Helena closed her eyes once more and held her breath as the two of them crashed into the frigid water. Even so, she found that holding her breath was pretty much pointless, since the freezing temperature of the water took her breath away as soon as her body had descended into it. She stayed suspended under water for a moment, trying to decipher which was up and which was down. Once she found her bearings, Helena swam for the surface and gasped for air once she broke through, Dante right beside her.

"I hate cold baths", Dante stated as he swam for the edge, his teeth chattering.

'_How can he be so sarcastic at a time like this?_', Helena asked herself as she, too, swam for the edge, unable to hold back a set of coughs. Her teeth chattered and her lips turned a bluish color as she pushed herself out of the pool. Dante, being that he had gotten out first, helped her out of the frigid water. She wasted no time hugging herself for warmth. Her black dress clung to her body like a heavy layer of skin. Her shoes, fortunately, had stayed on. Though, she cared not for her clothes. She had lost body heat and was desperately trying to get it back. Dante, on the other hand, seemed to be only slightly affected by the cold water he had fallen into. He stood a ways from her, shaking water off of his blood red coat as if his appearance mattered more at the time. Helena coughed a few more times; feeling like shards of ice had found their way into her lungs.

"Man, this is gonna cost a fortune to patch up", Dante complained as he inspected the hole in his coat, "If that little girl hadn't been sucked into a black hole I would have made _her_ pay for the damage"

"Aren't y-you c-cold?!", Helena stuttered, not believing that he was acting like nothing had happened.

Dante shrugged, "I guess. You?"

Helena just glared at him through her shivers. He shrugged it off and began to take in the details of where they were at, the water beading on the ends of his hair and dripping to the floor. It didn't look special, to put it simply. It had the usual boring, brown brick walls. Torches lined the walls, as if leading the way to the end. The torches reflected on the surface of the partially frozen pool of water, where pipes crept up out of the sides, up the walls and into the hallway leading away from the pool like snakes. Water leaked from these pipes while some had water frozen on them. What completely contradicted the cold feeling of the room was a large golden statue of a fire bird with a bronze plaque in front of it. The engraving was so huge that one didn't have to walk up to it to read it.

"Dost thou feel frozen like a lake in winter?

Dost thou feel the need to be warm once again?

Be careful for what ones wishes for

For, thou shall get what thee desires"

Dante knitted his eyebrows as he screwed his face, "What the hell!"

Helena glanced at the large plaque, taking only a moment to read it, "It's another riddle you idiot"

"I get that much. Though, I actually understand this one", Dante admitted, before adding, "Well, somewhat. Not what it's getting at anyway"

Helena rolled her eyes. Her irritation was getting her over the frozen-to-the-bone feeling; she was feeling a little warmer now. She sighed irritably and stood, facing the hallway.

"Well, it's obvious that we have to go this way", Helena pointed out, "So, let's get going and just see what happens"

"And here you get onto me for not being cautious", Dante ranted.

"Guilty as charged", Helena spat, "Now can we go?"

A.N: Short and boring chapter. Sorry about that. I try my best to keep it interesting, I really do.


	9. Into the Heat of Things

Chapter 9: Into the Heat of Things

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I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

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A.N: Ok, so keep in mind that his story is kind of old for me. I have improved since this story, but I wanted to upload it to see what people thought of it. *looking back, I could have chosen a better name for the fire demon haha* Sorry about the battle!

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It was just a plain, boring hallway; just like all the rest. With nothing different except for the pipes that led the two. Though, the new touch wasn't something to be thrilled about. It was actually becoming irritating with the water drops dripping to the floor every few seconds. This was something that could be called Chinese water torture; it was driving them up the walls! Dante gritted his teeth as another set of water drops dripped into a puddle on the floor. He was being unusually patient with this hallway, and he didn't know how much more he could take of the annoyance. Helena, however, handled the irritation a little better. Her sister was much more important than getting irritated over water drops. Still, she couldn't deny the fact that they _were_ annoying. The young woman fiddled with the pendant on her necklace as she scanned the walls, looking to see if there was another secret passageway.

The only difference with the hallway they were in was that this hallway actually had a ceiling. Though, it wasn't an aspect that would make them jump for joy. That wouldn't happen until the two actually found the end of the hallway. Yet again, Helena's thoughts went to the tattoo; which had gradually moved its way to her upper back. After falling into the water, the tattoo had moved and now she couldn't tell if it had grown larger on her back. All she could feel was its warmth, which she wholeheartedly welcomed now.

"What do you say I use my devil trigger and get through this thing faster?", Dante suggested, even though he had ruled out the suggestion the first time he had thought of it.

"Your devil trigger?", Helena was obviously confused. Living among humans for so long and not knowing the full extent of one's own power left Helena in the dark of the many powers of devils.

"If I use it, I can run through this thing with double the speed", Dante didn't want to explain every detail of what devil trigger was.

"And what about me?", Helena asked, "Your not going to suggest that I let you carry me, are you?"

"Well, it's gonna be a little hard to piggy-back", Dante shrugged as they continued walking.

"I don't know if I trust you enough to carry me. You might get ideas", Helena looked at Dante suspiciously, knowing that he would be half enjoying his time carrying her if she let him follow through with the plan.

"Me? Get ideas? C'mon, you've got the wrong guy", Dante grinned sarcastically as he spread his hands to emphasize what he was trying to show to be true (which, Helena knew was a lie no matter what his expression was).

Even though she didn't like it, Helena had to admit that his plan was the fastest way to get through the hallway. And, if his speed was as great as he said it was, they just might make it through this hallway faster than they would have on the motorcycle. Helena bit her lip as she regretted what she was about to say. She sighed then ran her hands through her hair.

"Alright, fine", Helena replied, but soon shot back, "But, I swear, Dante, you get any ideas and I'll be the reason for your demise once this is over with"

"Hey, you can't forget about those drinks though", Dante pointed out.

"Then I'll get you _after_ the drinks", Helena threatened.

"Fine, fine", Dante brushed off the threat, "Just get ready for one hell of a ride"

Dante smirked before his form suddenly changed, a blast of energy soon forced Helena to step back a little. Wings Protruded from his back as his form suddenly took on a demonic appearance. His devil form made him appear a lot more fierce than his usual sarcastic self. Helena couldn't help but to be intimidated by this new form, even though she knew Dante didn't mean her any harm. Not even giving her a warning, Dante picked her up bridal style.

"Hey! You could at least say something!", Helena argued.

"Not enough time", his voice was a lot deeper now, and, did she sense urgency? Helena had a feeling that Dante wasn't referring to the time limit the boss had given them. Before she could open her mouth, Dante was already in a sprint. Her first reaction was to wrap her arms around Dante's neck and bury her face in his now armored chest. Dante said nothing as his speed caused the air to whistle in his ears. He concentrated on his energy and tried to decide when he would have to get out of devil-trigger. If he used it too long, he would not have enough energy to use devil trigger until the very end. The pipes and torches became blurs as the water pooled on the ground splashed onto him and Helena. What surprised him was that Helena didn't complain about the water. In fact, Helena hadn't said anything for the past few minutes. Dante glanced down and noticed that she had her eyes closed with a peaceful expression on her beautiful face. The woman had fallen asleep in his arms so quickly that he hadn't even noticed until now. Even so, her arms were still wrapped around his neck.

Feeling that it was time to call it quits after half an hour, Dante transformed out of his devil trigger and jogged to a stop. Even without devil trigger, Helena was as light as a feather in his arms.

"Are we there?", her voice came out tiredly. Dante could tell that a little more than half an hour wasn't enough for her, but he couldn't let her sleep. If demons jumped out at them, he had to be ready. Not only him, but Helena as well.

"No, but I think I see a door at the end", Dante replied.

"You can put me down now", Helena stated.

"Sure", Dante let her stand. She smoothed out her dress and ran her hands through her hair.

"Thank you", Helena smiled, "And sorry about falling asleep, I didn't realize how tired I was"

"No problem. It's a good thing you don't weigh a thing or I would complain", Dante smirked.

Helena shook her head and smiled lightly, and looked around, "Is it me or is it warmer here?"

Dante took a moment to answer, "Now that you mention it…"

"I think a battle is coming up. Be prepared", Helena foretold.

"Yeah, I was kinda getting that impression", Dante said as the both of them walked towards the door.

"This is getting ridiculous. I have no idea how much time we have left and we are stuck battling all of these demons. There must be some way of knowing how much time is left", Helena tapped the pendant on her necklace impatiently.

"I'm pretty sure we have plenty of time", Dante reassured, "The demons we have come across so far have been pretty easy to beat"

"But, who's to say that the next demon won't be that easy to beat?", Helena pointed out.

Dante shrugged, "I'm pretty sure I can handle it"

"You're pretty confident", Helena smirked, "Though, I wouldn't call it overconfidence"

"Why, thank you", Dante returned the smirk before they both stopped at the rusted door.

Once they stopped to look at the door, they noticed that the wall around it had been scarred by burns. Whatever it was on the other side, it could use fire and pretty well at that. Helena glanced at Dante, fearing that she had jinxed the both of them.

"Are you ready?", Dante asked.

"Does it really matter?", Helena stated, "lets go"

Dante placed his hand on the knob, only to have it burn his hand, "Damn it! That's hot!"

He shook his hand as if the warm air would cool it down. Helena shook her head, "It's a good thing that you're wearing gloves. But think next time. If there are scorch marks around the door, it means that there is fire. And if there is fire, anything metal is going to be hot"

"Then how else do you expect me to open this door?", Dante shot back.

"Well, I was thinking that you would kick it down", Helena crossed her arms.

"If you say so", Dante sighed, trying to hide that he wasn't too pleased with the fact that she was teaching him logic.

With little effort, Dante kicked down the door. The rusted piece of junk went flying to the other side of the room and landed and a heap of rubble that was next to a river of lava; which circled the room like a moat. On top of one of the piles of rubble sat a tanned beauty with her legs crossed. Wings of fire protruded from her back as her golden hair billowed around her face. Copper eyes glanced down at the two with interest. She wore a very loose, red tank top with a golden lining and a skirt of the same red and the same gold lining with jewels dangling from the ends. Slits ran up both sides of the skirt to reveal tanned legs and golden sandal-like shoes on her feet. Golden bracelets dangled from both of her wrists as one hand held a gold staff with a large, red stone at its peak.

"You seem pretty interesting, Son of Sparda", she noted seductively, "Though, I could do without the eyesore standing next to you. It's a pain to look at that which was an experiment gone horribly wrong"

"She's far from an eyesore", Dante crossed his arms, "But, I have to say, she can be quite a headache"

Helena glared at him, knowing that he was saying that for show. The fire winged woman chuckled at Dante's reply.

"A headache indeed. Since it is her fault that Rozzen must undergo another possession of an evil spirit. His noble intentions are no good to us Siren 01"

"Siren 01? Let me guess, my experiment number", Helena crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her right leg.

"Ooh, you're so smart", the woman mocked, "But, before I go on, I must introduce myself; how rude can I be? My name is Fira and I shall be your entertainer until death part us"

"Entertainer? Sounds fun", Dante smirked before pulling out Rebellion, "But, see, I like to be apart of the show too. Hope you don't mind a couple of volunteers on the stage"

"Not at all", Fira answered as she jumped down from the pile of rubble, "But, you have to let me have some fun with you"

"I'm pretty sure you'll have tons of fun", Dante assured as he pointed his sword at the demon.

Fira smiled, "Even so, I have to be sure that you won't be able to escape"

She tapped the end of her staff onto the floor with a grin. Magma spurted out around the sides, blocking off both entrances and any other possible areas of escape.

"Do I really look the type to run off from a fight?", Dante asked, showing his disapproval at her actions

"One can never be too safe", Fira smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so", Dante shrugged, then turned to Helena, "Remember, this is my fight. Don't get cocky, alright?"

Helena crossed her arms, "Oh? And you have the right to tell you're employer what to do? Anyway, I'll keep my promise and let you have this fight. No interfering"

"I don't have all day", Fira called out, "I do have other matters to attend to besides your demise"

"Yeah, I'm comin'", Dante turned from Helena and twirled his sword a couple times before pointing it at Fira, "Let's get this party started"

Without another word, she bolted up towards the endless ceiling. Her wings of fire grew large as she swooped down towards Dante, her staff held firmly in both hands. Fire spewed out from her staff as Fira closed the distance between them. Dante smirked and leapt out of the way of her attack; Helena moved off to the side to keep out of the fight. Figuring that long range attacks were more suitable for this fight, Dante returned Rebellion to its sheath and removed Ebony and Ivory. With no hesitation, he began firing away at the fire demon. As he had expected, Fira was no fool and dodged every single bullet that whizzed by. Fira swooped towards him once again, spreading her wings to their full size and threw a fireball in his direction. Dante just barely missed her attack; escaping with a graze on his left shoulder.

"Damn it! I hope you're paying for a new coat!", Dante called out to Fira who was above him once again.

"Once I get done with you, you won't be needing a new coat", Fira sneered.

Suddenly, Fira went for Helena. Unable to defend herself against a demon of her caliber, all she could do was stand with her sword ready. Fira hurdled a fireball towards the woman with all of her hate contained within it. Before it reached Helena, Dante grabbed her and sprung away from the attack. He landed perfectly out of harms way with Helena in his arms.

"Why are you protecting her?!", Fira exclaimed.

"I still have to get paid; a man has to eat y'know?", Dante smirked, letting Helena down on her feet, "Besides, she's kinda growin' on me"

"It disgusts me to see a man of your caliber on the human's side, and it disgusts me even more to see you with that…_thing_", Fira looked at Helena in disgust.

Helena looked away, embarrassed at Dante's remark and angry with Fira. She didn't know how to express these two feelings at the same time, so all she could do was look away. Dante pointed Ebony at Fira and cocked his head the side.

"Are we going to finish this or are you going to keep making rude comments about your opponents?", Dante asked.

"Of course", Fira sneered.

"And another thing, don't go after Helena until you've finished me", Dante smirked, "But defeating me is going to be impossible"

Maddened, Fira lashed out at him with her staff. Fire spewed out from the red stone that was at the staff's peak. She twirled her staff around as the fire continued to spew out, resulting in a fire tornado hurdling towards Dante and Helena; wanting to do away with both at the same time. But, as usual, the silver haired demon slayer dodged the attack at the last possible moment with Helena. '_How can I get close to her?_', Dante mused to himself. He glanced around the room, but found nothing. No matter where he went, he was either going to get burned or be a sitting duck for a few seconds, which was something he was not willing to risk. '_Too bad doppelganger is out of the question…she's too damn smart for that_', he dodged her attacks again as she threw more fire tornados his way, Helena in his arms.

"Listen", Helena whispered so Fira wouldn't hear, "We might have to work together in this one"

"What?!", Dante whispered back, pushing off a wall to dodge another attack, "After that promise you made me?"

Helena glared at him, "Look at you, you're too busy trying to think of how to defeat her. We _have _work together for this one"

Dante repelled a fire ball and sent it flying towards the ground, resulting in an explosion. Helena tightened her grip on Dante's coat as he pushed off the wall once more.

"What do you suggest we do then?", Dante asked reluctantly, "Coming at her with swords isn't going to help us at all, darlin'"

Helena chuckled, which was something Dante hadn't heard yet, "Do you know where sirens come from?"

"Is that a trick question?", Dante asked as he dodged a fire tornado.

"The sea, you idiot", Helena would have smacked his forehead if she wasn't using her hands to hold onto him.

"I knew that. Besides, what does-- wait, I think I see where you're going with this", Dante smirked, "Don't tell me you have some kind of water powers". The statement sounded a bit cheesy, but it couldn't be helped.

"Exactly", Helena nodded as Dante spun out of the way of another fire ball.

"You didn't tell me you could control water", Dante pointed out.

"There was no need to. It didn't really matter until now", Helena smirked, "And, since I've had a nice cold bath today, I think I've got enough water to go around"

Dante stole a glance at Helena before repelling yet another fire ball, "Let me guess, I distract her and you do the rest"

"You got it", Helena nodded.

Fira was, obviously, becoming enraged by the fact that her attacks seemed so trivial compared to their conversation. And, the way the silver haired demon slayer dodged her attacks like mere insects was even more irritating. She knew she had to settle this or her master would become frustrated with her. '_Think, Dante keeps protecting that vile creature. I can't keep trying to get both of them at the same time, it's just not cutting it. I guess I have to do as he says and try to rid of him first. There's just no other option right now. Once Dante is out of the picture, Helena is just a fly in one's face'_. Though, before Fira could devise a way to rid of Dante, something happened that played into her favor. Dante had let go of Helena and let her run to the other side of the room.

"Whenever you're ready to play by the rules", Dante called out, hands spread.

"I've come to figure that, that is the only way to get this done. Fine, I'll play by your rules", Fira sneered.

"Come on then", Dante coaxed, "Give me all you've got"

He stood below her with his arms spread out, beckoning for her to come at him. The usual sarcastic smirk was still plastered on his face.

"Hyaa!", Fira came darting at him even faster than before.

Dante dodged to the side and sent a barrage of bullets at her, purposely missing. Even if he was aiming, there would be no way he could fill her with lead and kill her before she reached him. Fira didn't seem to notice his pretense, not caring that he was randomly shooting instead of aiming. Though, she did notice that he was moving slower. Fira quickly concluded that it was because the heat and that her quick attacks were wearing him down. Taking advantage of this new found weakness, Fira called upon all of her power and swooped down towards the demon slayer. Dante had to fight back the urge to smirk as he pretended to be helpless for a moment.

"Shit!", he cursed aloud, just to make the act seem more realistic.

Fira ran the end of her staff through Dante's shoulder, pinning him to the wall. He dangled just feet away from the magma that flowed below him.

"What, out of ammo? Poor dear", Fira sneered as Dante gritted his teeth. Fira leaned her face closer to his, her warm breath causing the temperature around him to rise. As if it needed to be any warmer! She licked her cherry red lips as a sneer played upon her face, "Shame for you to go to waste like this…you really are a fine devil"

"Glad to hear that", Dante smirked, "But I don't think I'm ready to be 'waste' just yet"

"What are you talking abou-?", Fira began.

Before she could finish her question, water seeped up from the ground and pulled her into its clutches. Smoke began to rise from Fira's flesh as the smell of smoke filled the room. Dante, released from Fira's staff, leapt over the magma before falling into it and watched as the fire demon was being reduced to nothing but smoke. On the other side of the room, Helena was kneeled with her eyes closed, hands on the floor, and was in deep concentration; water swirling around her arms and into the floor.

"You tricked me you devil!", Fira screamed in pain.

"In what way actually?", Dante started, "I didn't say Helena couldn't participate, I simply said that you couldn't kill her until you had finished me"

Fira desperately tried to scream back her response, but it was already too late. The water had completely engulfed her as well as the darkness that had consumed all of the other demons. Dante immediately turned his attention to Helena as soon as the demon had disappeared. Her emerald eyes looked up and gazed exhaustedly at Dante, a weak smile forming on her face.

"Last fight I take", she panted, "this time, I promise"

"Looks like you don't have a choice, doll", Dante crossed his arms.

Helena laughed weakly as she stood, "Anyway, lets get out of here. I'm burning up"

"Do you need me to carry you?", Dante smirked, sarcasm in his words as usual.

"Thanks, but, I'll manage", Helena smiled back sweetly before shaking her head.

The magma that had covered the doors had receded back to the moat that surrounded the room, revealing the exit. Helena sighed with relief as the both of them stepped forward.

"Finally", Dante breathed, before noticing that there was no walkway that led to the exit. The magma that had spurted up when Fira intended to block the doorway, had destroyed the walkway to the door, "Shit! I must have the worst luck"

He scratched his head and sighed as he paced off to the side. Helena looked at the distance between the door and then looked over at the pile of rubble in the corner, "Hey, Dante, I have an idea"

"And what would that be?"

She pointed to the door that Dante had kicked in before they had made their entrance into the room not long ago, "We can use that as a kind of bridge. Look, some of the walkway still remains on the other side"

"Let me guess, you want me to pick up that door and place it over there", Dante sighed, "Fine, but I should bill you for this kind of labor."

"But, you're not going to", the young woman crossed her arms, "Right?"

Dante grabbed the metal door and placed it across the moat, "Right"

A.N: I think I could have done a little better on Fira, as well as the battle. =P Only 4 more chapters to go!


	10. Other Side

Chapter 10: Other Side

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I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

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A.N: I actually kind of like this chapter, since this was written when I started to try out a new writing style. Sorry, no Dante or Helena in this chapter. I'm sorry about my bad names for the demons haha, I just make it up as I go. Well, Enjoy!

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"Tell me", started the golden eyed man, "What do you think I should do with the girl once I'm finished?"

The demon he spoke to held a black fan in front of her face, wary not to touch the blades that accessorized the tips. Her violet eyes gazed at the master under long, wispy, snow-white bangs. The rest of her pure white hair flowed down her back to her ankles. A simple white dress cascaded down to the floor, even as she sat across the room from the master.

"As if I'd care", she responded, fanning herself with her own weapon, "But, if you must ask such questions to stir up your imagination, I would have her watch her sister die a slow and disturbing death and let Siren 02 go free"

"Why _her_ go free?", he questioned calmly.

"She'll be so traumatized that she'll eventually give up on life herself. It will be pitiful, yet, fun to watch as she withers away", the woman answered, examining the blades on her fan, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"Interesting, but, only fun for you", he chuckled, "If you've forgotten, I will have bigger and better things to attend to once that son of Sparda is out of the picture"

The woman's violet eyes shifted away from her blades towards her master on the other side of the room, "I advise that you not be overconfident. That has been my brothers' and sisters' demise today. Though I care not for _their_ undoing, I fear for yours. Should the son of Sparda defeat you once more, I fear that your existence will be permanently erased"

"If I am defeated, so be it. But, I will not let my existence be erased", he stood up and crossed the room to stand over her, "I will do as I did the last time I was defeated and wait, again, to strike at Dante"

"Pity that he is the only thing standing between you and your victory", the woman closed her fan and stood, "I shall be going now"

"Wait a moment longer", he motioned for her to follow, "I have a gift for you"

The woman followed, unquestioning; she never questioned her master. He led her to a room with weapons decorating the walls like priceless art. The master strode over to a wooden box and gestured for her to open it herself. She nodded, unlatched the box with her free hand and lifted open the lid. Inside lay a silver fan, twice the size of the one she held now with the blades even sharper. She fingered the weapon as her eyes sparkled with a devious fascination. The master smiled when she looked up at him, as if meaning to say 'is this really for me?'. The only question, even if it wasn't verbal, that she had ever asked him.

"Try it out, my dear", he gestured to the weapon, "I'm sure you'll find Silver Dancer easier to use than your Black Wind"

"Thank you so much", the woman gasped before placing her previous weapon down and picking Silver Dancer up from the box. She ran off like a child who had just received a new toy, wanting to try it out. She ran to the sparring room, eager to test out her new weapon; eager to shed blood as soon as she got a feel of Silver Dancer.

Once the demon woman was gone, the master sneered, "Don't expect to get much use out of it my dear. You are just going to end up like the rest of your brothers and sisters; killed only to be used for my energy"

He turned towards the door behind him and slid it open and walked into a grand ballroom. An elaborate chandelier, large in size with beautiful crystal dangling from every inch, hung from the center of the room. The light reflected on the glossy wooden floor beautifully. Candles on elaborate stands were scattered about the edges of the room for extra, yet unneeded, light. Deep red, velvet curtains draped down from golden rods which were set up high on the towering, cream colored walls. The drapes swept the ground gracefully and contrasted well with the murals that depicted scenes of the underworld. A sleek, black piano was set off to one side of the room, with a young man standing next to it, eyeing the murals on the ceiling. Dark blue hair was tied back with a black tie; blood red eyes scanned every detail of the murals above. He wore a simple tuxedo, his gloved hands gently placed in his pockets. Once he heard the master's approach, he looked away from the murals and bowed, the hair that had not been tied back falling over in front of his handsome face.

"I thought you were never coming back", the man said, coming up from his bow, "It can get quite boring when all you have to do for hours is scan these murals. Not to say that they aren't interesting"

"I apologize", the master smiled as he stepped forward, "I was speaking with your sister just now"

"My last sister", the man mused, "my dear sister Wist. She is just going to end up like the rest of them. By the way, how is Rozzen?"

"Rozzen? Oh, well, the possession didn't go very well. He rejected every thing we tried, so we had to…dispose of him", he then shrugged, as if another lost life didn't mean anything.

"I see", the other man shrugged, "He was the runt of the litter anyway"

"Besides that, is the music ready Armand?"

"Ah, yes!", Armand smiled, "Just wait until you hear it! I think it's the best piece I've written in the last 300 years"

"Did you make sure that it is specifically designed to entrance her? I don't want her coming out of the spell easily"

"Trust me", Armand replied, his red eyes gleamed, "The only ones that could break out of this spell are you and possibly the son of Sparda"

"Whether that brat is caught by it or not, makes no difference to me. I just want that girl. I don't need her opening up her mouth while I'm fighting against that half-breed"

"May I be so bold as to suggest something sir?", Armand asked cautiously

"It depends on what the suggestion is my dear boy", the master raised an eyebrow in question, "Nonetheless, go on"

"Why not have you-know-who fight against him before you. After all, even if Dante _does_ defeat him, he will be severely injured and weak. Your victory will be made much easier. I know it sounds like the cowards way, but, just think of how much quicker you could bask in victory"

The master stroked his chin in thought as he looked upwards towards the grand balcony that overlooked the ballroom. There, in an elaborate chair draped in silk, sat Tara. She was whispering something to the man that stood next to her, frantically trying to get a response. The man made no acknowledgement of her comments as he stared blankly at the large mural that was directly across from him on the wall of the other side of the room. Tara had been forced to change into something more 'suitable' for the occasion beforehand, unfortunate for her. She wore a yellow dress that hugged her torso, though, past the hips it flared out, making the yellow dress into a lovely ball gown. A small hat rested, slightly tilted, atop her auburn hair, with a netted veil decorated in red and blue jewels covering part of her face. A small mask, covering just around the eyes, added another touch of yellow with red and blue jewels accenting the piece further. A yellow choker was around her neck, with a sapphire in the middle. Lastly, a single yellow glove covered her left hand, with red jewels decorating around the wrist.

When Tara felt the master's eyes on her, she glared. The master simply smiled, as if he were acknowledging someone with far more power than he, before shifting his gaze over to the silver haired man next to her.

"Actually", the master started, "Having him fight isn't such a bad idea. Though he is incomplete, he should have the strength he had the last time they fought"

"Would you like the battle after the masquerade, sir?", Armand asked.

"I shall have my fun first. I would like a dance with my creation and see just how agile she is", the master stroked his chin again, "However the events unfold afterwards, I leave in the hands of fate. If the battle shall erupt during the masquerade, so be it. My soon to be puppet…I beg your pardon", the master smiled at Armand, "_your_ puppet and myself shall stand off to the side while the battle commences. As long as she is under your spell, we should not have any problems"

"Seducing the siren, quite ironic, don't you think?", Armand smiled politely as he moved towards his grand piano.

"Yes, ironic indeed"

"YOU PIG HEADED COWARD!"_, _Tara shouted, her limps bound to the chair.

The master smiled before jumping, with ease, up onto the balcony. He landed gracefully, as if he were a feather, and stood with his back to the black railing of the balcony. Again, that sickly innocent smile was upon his face, his golden eyes on Tara.

"Coward, you say?", he knelt down to her eye level, "I might be, but, is your sister not one as well?"

Tara stared him down as best she could, considering she had to look up at him, "No she's not!"

"Then why did she bring Dante into this? Of course, it was planned that she would bring him along anyway. This is why all of this is set up in such a way", he stood up to his full height and gestured, with his arms spread, to the magnificent, yet, haunting room, "It is _because_ your sister is a coward that things are set up as they are. Of course, I don't think the fools have realized that yet"

"It isn't her fault that she does not have enough power", Tara spat in defense of her sister, "I would have done the same if I were her"

"Would you?", the master shook his head, "No, I don't think you would. You're a hotheaded girl, Tara. I don't think that you would have asked the son of Sparda for help, oh no, my dear. You would have taken the task head on, with no aide. Trust me, I know this because I created you. Though, Helena's cowardice is something she developed all on her own"

"That still doesn't explain why you manipulate V-", Tara began, but the master cut her off.

"Silence!", the master bellowed. His outburst echoed in the ballroom.

Armand below sighed in annoyance when the master's sudden outburst caused him to flinch and streak his pen across the page of his sheet of music. He said nothing, despite the fact that he had to start the music sheet from scratch again. The man standing next to Tara made no movement, unfazed. The master let out a deep breath before stooping down to meet her gaze.

"Whether this man next to you fights against Dante or not means nothing to me. I tell you now, I would rather be cutting this man to pieces instead of having him stand here useless and waiting until Dante arrives. If you don't wish to see his premature demise, I suggest you keep your pretty mouth shut. Do I make myself clear?"

"As if I care", Tara slouched in the chair and crossed her arms, glaring at the master.

"I think you do. I can see it in your eyes", he sneered before vanishing.

Tara sat up as soon as the master was gone, her auburn hair falling over her shoulders as she looked up at the man next to her, "You're the worst of them all. I can't believe that you are being used by that scum so easily"

The man said nothing, nor did he move. He was a living statue next to Tara.

A.N: Sorry, another short chapter…again


	11. A Sibling Lost a Sibling Found

Chapter 11: A Sibling Lost a Sibling Found

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I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

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A.N: My writing style changed when I had waited so long to complete the last chapters of the story…at the time, I wanted the battle in this chapter to be longer, but I was just about out of ideas and I hadn't played DMC for the longest time while completing this. But, I still think it turned out ok =D Enjoy!

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"When did that thing move to your back?"

Helena looked at Dante with confusion before realizing that he was referring to the butterfly mark, "Oh, after we fell into the ice water"

"Oh", was all Dante said, looking ahead, running his hands through his silver hair.

"Why do you ask?", Helena questioned as her fingertips brushed against her leg.

He shrugged as they continued to walk forward down the torch-lit hallway. It became clear after a moment that all Dante was attempting to do was create a conversation. Helena tapped a finger on the pendant around her neck, taking in the new surroundings. The walls were of the finest wood as the floors were of marble. An unearthly glow was given off by the miniature chandeliers that hung every ten feet or so, from the ceiling. The change of appearance was something to be pleased about. Though, at the same time, it gave the both of them a feeling that they were nearing the end of the mission. Helena was both pleased and frightened by this. The end meant that, once all was done, she could get Tara back and they could all go back home. It also meant that they had to face the master and what else he had at his side to aid him.

"Dante", Helena's voice was soft.

He glanced at her, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was scared?", her hand clutched the pendant tightly.

"Of what? The big guy?"

She nodded, almost ashamed, "I wasn't caught off guard when he showed his devil form, that was a lie. To be honest, I was scared out of my wits. I feared that he would kill me, and yet, I feared for my sister's life as well"

"If you're implying that it was your fault that all of this happened, just forget it", Dante started.

"Hm", she smiled, "just partly my fault then"

"I swear!", Dante exclaimed, "you can be so difficult!"

Helena's laugh rang melodiously in the hallway, "and do you think you're any different?"

Helena's mood swing caught Dante off guard, though, he wasn't about to say something about it. As long as she wasn't depressed, all was fine. Out of nowhere, the sound of screeching metal echoed down the hallway, cutting off Helena's laugh and wiping away the moment of ease. Dante looked around, but saw nothing. Both hoped that the floor was not preparing to collapse again, since it was becoming cliché in this place. Instead, a metal gate slammed down in between them. The bars were thick and emanating a dark power far greater than Dante could destroy.

"Dante! Are you ok?", Helena called out

"I'm fine. You?"

"I'm alright", she paused, "But, what now?"

She looked through the bars, not wanting to step an inch closer. Dante gritted his teeth as he looked towards the other end of the hall, "Let's see if we can meet up at the end"

There was no response to his statement. Instead, he was left in an unusual silence and a feeling that he was now alone. Dante looked through the bars, only to find that the siren no longer stood on the other side. He sprinted forward, calling out her name every few seconds. He received nothing but silence as a response. She was gone, and he felt responsible for the misfortune.

"Shit", he cursed, and repeated the curse until the word felt like it had lost its meaning. He continued to run towards the end, despite the fact that he saw none.

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"Let me go!", Helena fought against the reptilian demons that tied her down.

Despite her efforts to shake them off, they continued their work of tying her limbs in an effortless and unflinching manner. She screamed at the top of her lungs, using the shriek of a siren to try and paralyze them. Still they continued their work for a moment longer before leaving her alone on the cold stone floor, in a room where the walls were nothing but darkness. Her black hair flowed over the stones of the floor like silk. Her black dress was now half the length, the hem now above the knees, and her shoes gone. Her ivory skin almost glowed in the darkness, the tattoo on her back growing warmer by the minute.

……

_Time had frozen as Helena called out to the motionless demon hunter that stood on the other side. He was frozen in mid-sentence, unaware of what went on over on her side of the gate. Even so, she did not dare step forward towards the tainted bars. The wall behind her slid open and two large reptilian demons pounced on her without warning. She fought back with all of her might, struggling as she lay face down on the ground. The two demons chattered amongst themselves in their unusual and irritating language; a language Helena could not understand. Almost breathless, Helena cried out once more to the demon hunter, still frozen in time, as the darkness began to swallow her. _

……

"Pathetic", was all Helena could say to sum up the event, a hollow chuckle echoed in the room.

She attempted to sit up a few times before she finally succeed in doing so on her fourth try. Helena muttered a spell before the rope that was tied around her limbs fell to pieces on the floor. Surprised that there was no spell on the ropes, she rubbed her wrists.

"Dante, come quickly", the siren whispered in the darkness of the room, "I fear something terrible is going to happen"

The words echoed softly as some other noise filtered through the darkness to her ears. It was a melody that she did not recognize. She lifted her head and glanced around, only to feel drowsy moments later. Her emerald eyes soon lost their shimmer as she stared blankly ahead at the master walking towards her.

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He ran in a steady pace, his boots creating a loud _clack clack_ against the marble floors and echoing all around him. His blood red coat pushed back as his silver hair swished back and forth over his face. The icy blue eyes that gazed ahead were now sharp with anger. The weapons that rested on the back of his coat did not slow him down in the least. Dante gritted his teeth as a lowly demon decided to make an appearance before him.

"Now's not the time!", Dante sliced it down within the blink of an eye and returned the sword to its hilt.

Helena was more than likely captured and in a place he knew nothing of. He had no idea what the master of this place was planning, but he knew that it wasn't something pretty. Worst case scenario; the master would kill Helena before he could even reach her, as well as her sister. Dante recalled what Helena had told him on their trip to Nightscape. Because she didn't agree to helping the big guy bring devils to the human world, he was more than likely going to rid of her. However, Dante couldn't conclude as to why the demon was going to such lengths to do so. '_Helena isn't even capable of taking down a middle class demon on her own_', he thought. Was there something more to her? All she had were her spells, singing abilities and her water manipulation. Even using them to their full extent, Helena would be ranked with the lower demons.

Dante sped forward at an even faster pace, not even slowing down for the announcement that the master so kindly gave him.

"Don't worry, boy. I don't intent to kill her unless you fail to get to the room at the end of the hallway in time", there was a pause, "You have twenty two minutes remaining to midnight"

'_just how long had I been knocked out when we first came in?!_', Dante mentally exclaimed.

"Make that twenty one", the announcement continued.

"Gee thanks", Dante muttered under his breath. He considered using his devil trigger, but quickly tossed that thought aside. The demon slayer knew he was going to have to use his devil trigger when facing off against the master, and he couldn't afford to waste his much needed energy just to run to the end of the hallway. Dante pushed himself harder, his boots pounding against the floor as his legs carried him faster and faster towards the end. Minutes later, the pleasing sight of the door was soon in view as he turned right down the hallway (since the other side was blocked off the by gate). Though, if things couldn't get any worse, the ceiling was beginning to descend at a slow pace and demons were appearing all around him. Dante gritted his teeth and unsheathed Rebellion.

"I thought I told you guys earlier…!", Dante exclaimed as he sliced down a pair of demons that attempted to attack him from the side, "I don't have time for this!!"

He pushed off a demon's skull and sped forward once more, the horde of demons following him as if he were the leader of some parade. Their screeches echoed loudly now that the hallway was getting smaller by the minute, due to the ceiling slowly dropping. Dante couldn't help but smirk, '_Does he really think he is going to make a pancake out of me?!' _

Dante sliced down a small group of demons that appeared out of the wall, their large blades dropping to the floor as they disintegrated. Again, the demon slayer pushed off another demon's skull to speed up the process of getting to the door.

"Five minutes", the master calmly informed

"Tch", Dante clenched his teeth, "Someone's been messing with the clock. It has barely been ten minutes since the last time he paged me"

"Sorry, I lied about ten minutes ago", the sneer could be heard in his voice

"I can't wait until I get a hold of you", Dante cursed the man as he pushed off another demon, "Bastard"

The silver haired man sighed irritably as the door gradually drew near. '_Four minutes, that's all I need. That is, if the guy isn't lying again_,' Dante thought to himself as he dodged a horde of demons that tried to attack from behind. Was Helena really alright? Could all of his effort to make it in time all be in vain? Dante couldn't be sure whether or not the demon was a man of his word. The demon world was twisted and the meaning of a 'deal' or 'promise' was lost when it came to dealing with a demon. Not all demons were like that, there were exceptions. Though, Dante was sure that the master wasn't one of the demons in the 'kind and caring' devil list.

"Four minutes"

Dante ignored him, knowing that the master was going to give him a countdown now that he was nearing the end of the hallway. More demons appeared from all sides now, their weapons of varying nature and size. Returning his sword to its place on his back, he ran faster and past the demons that tried to attack him.

"Three minutes"

His eyes were locked onto the door and nothing else. He ignored the slowly descending ceiling, the demons that continued to appear and the master that continued to speak. Though, it wasn't the door that he was concentrating on. It was the siren's life that remained in his mind. The woman that had depended on him from the beginning was in a place he knew nothing of and probably in danger.

"Two minutes"

Even more demons appeared around him as the countdown progressed. It was becoming increasingly difficult to dodge them, but, it was nothing Dante was concerned about. In fact, he pushed off more of their skulls to help him to the door faster. Though, the lowering ceiling was now nearing his head.

"One minute"

Dante skidded forward on the slick floors as he jumped from a demon, the door only ten seconds away from his grasp. A grin found its way to his lips, '_like I had said before, I only needed four minutes_'. He bounded towards the door and turned the knob. The turning of the knob was soon followed by a loud grating noise. Dante looked up to find that the wall was preparing for a sudden drop. Shoving the door open, Dante bounded into the room on the other side, only to turn around to see the demons that were still in the hallway screech in fury as their lives ended with a loud _CRASH_. The door way now blocked by what was once the ceiling, Dante turned to face the room he was in. It was a well lit ballroom, with a man playing a piano on one side and a girl dressed in yellow up on the balcony, bound with chains to an elaborate chair.

"Well, isn't this fancy?", Dante crossed his arms as he strode forward, brushing off the piano music as nothing but part of the atmosphere.

"Are you Dante?", the girl on the balcony called.

"Sure am", Dante stopped halfway into the room as he glanced up at the girl, "And I take it you're Tara"

"Yeah", the girl's gaze grew concerned, "But, where's Helena? Where's my sister?"

Dante didn't answer.

"That must mean that Mundus has her now"

Dante's eyes widened as his gaze darted back to Tara, "Mundus?!"

"Yeah, you didn't know?", Tara asked as if the fact was something that everyone should already know.

"No, but I've got one heck of a welcome ready for him when I see him"

Suddenly, the sound of two hands clapping together echoed throughout the room and slightly drowned out the music that was played at the piano. Dante looked towards the door on the right side of the room. He saw the master, who he knew was Mundus now, and Helena with a lifeless gaze. She was dressed differently now. Helena now wore a red dress that hugged her torso and flowed out at the hips. The front of the dress came to a 'V' point just below the bust line; there was practically no back to the dress since it looked like it was made to show off her Black Butterfly mark. A golden mask in the shape of a butterfly covered most of her face, jewels dangling off the ends of the wings. Her red shoes clicked in a monotone way against the wood as she came to a stop next to the master. Her raven hair had been pulled back into an elaborate bun decorated with jewels that matched her mask.

"Lovely, isn't she?", Mundus gazed upon his creation as if she were nothing more than a piece of art work.

His finger traced one side of her jaw, "Though, I do admit, I could have done better", he continued as his finger traced down her bust line, "Humans see her differently I guess. I see a lovely, unfinished painting while the humans see a masterpiece"

"How many puppets are you going to create before you are satisfied, Mundus?", Dante clenched his teeth.

"Tara ruined the surprise didn't she?", Mundus looked up at Tara, "Shame on you. I was supposed to tell him later"

The young woman did nothing but stick her tongue out at the demon.

"Ah well, can't do anything about it now", Mundus shrugged, "Anyway, I would like one dance before we begin our little battle"

"You know, you're a lot calmer than when we last met", Dante pointed out.

"And you have no son for me to greet", Mundus returned, remembering the last words he had heard after his defeat the first time he had fought against Dante.

Dante shrugged, "What can I say? I'm just not having any luck with the women"

"Anyway", Mundus took Helena by the hand and led her away from the door, "I've got a surprise for you. I think you're going to love it"

Out of the doorway stepped a young man, silver hair slicked back as ice blue eyes stared at Dante with hatred. He wore the finest armor of the underworld, the well crafted metal formed to accommodate every muscle, Yamato resting in his hand. Dante pretended not to be shocked as well as contain the fury that boiled over in his mind.

"I thought you might want a little…reunion", Mundus sneered.

"How long will you continue to do this?", Dante stared down at the floor as he clenched his fists, "How long will you continue to use my brother!"

Dante shouted with rage as his eyes met Mundus'. The sarcasm and uncaring gleam no longer resided in his eyes. And, for that instant, he thought nothing of saving Helena or her sister. Mundus shook his head as he placed a hand on Helena's shoulder, as if they were a couple instead of puppet and puppet master.

"As long as either one of us is still alive. I kill you, he's free to do whatever he pleases. Though…", Mundus tapped a finger on his chin, "…he'll probably just want another battle against me. Anyway, if I die…then it's obvious that my control over him will be no more. But, that's not going to happen"

The man playing the music in the background continued to play as if he were to do nothing more than set the scene. It irritated Dante even more than he already was.

"This is how it's going to work", Mundus started, "You are going to fight Vergil first. If not, Helena here will be no more. Just a simple change of the keys played on the piano, and the butterfly mark will consume her and spread like poison"

Vergil remained standing where he was, the look of hatred still in his eyes. Though, Dante could tell that the hatred did not belong to his brother. It was Mundus' hatred that reflected in his eyes. Dante's brother was nothing more than a puppet to the prince of darkness, just as Mundus' other subjects.

"Master! You lied to me!", suddenly a girl with long white hair appeared next to Mundus, "You said I could kill them!"

"I did, didn't I?", Mundus smiled for a moment before stabbing the demon woman directly in the heart, twisting the blade to make it more painful for his faithful follower.

"M-master", the demon woman gasped, "W-w-why?"

"You are weak. As were your brother's and sisters", Mundus replied, "I simply kept your so-called family around to exhaust Dante and Siren 01. But, since all your siblings failed, I must dispose of you as well"

Dante knew all too well how Mundus disposed of his failing subjects, and it made him all the more irritated.

"I-I u-u-understand, mas-t-ter", she coughed up blood, a trickle oozing down her neck, "W-whate-ever you wish"

Mundus sneered, "That's right"

Removing the blade from her heart, the darkness swallowed her whole. When her body had been consumed, Mundus absorbed the darkness into his own body.

"I'll kill you", Dante threatened

"Before or after your brother kills you?"

That said, Vergil took this as a cue and sliced downward with his blade. Barely escaping the attack, Dante dodged to the side with a scratch on his arm. Annoyance and fury taking him over, he unsheathed Rebellion and charged forward at his brother. Of course, Dante knew he wouldn't be able to land a strike on his brother with such recklessness. He knew his brother well enough to know that much. Instead, their blades met and sparks lit up the space between them. It was an all too familiar stance, and Dante wasn't too fond of that memory. Dante quickly knocked Vergil's Yamato down as he attempted to slice through his bother's armor. '_Hold on, if Tara is a siren too, isn't there a way she can help?_', Dante thought amidst the battle, '_No, that's too easy. There has to be a catch. If she's like her sister, then she could easily use her voice to undo whatever spell is on those chains_'

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"_My sister is the same way_"

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If that was so, why was there nothing restricting Tara from using her own powers? Vergil jumped away from Dante's attempt to break through his armor, and charged in for another attack. Their blades hit repeatedly, sparks flying, as they continued to try to take each other down. Dante's blade just barely nicked the chest of his brother's armor as Vergil accomplished to create a huge gash in Dante's thigh with his Yamato. Blood poured from the clean cut for a few moments before his demonic powers gradually stopped the bleeding. Still, the pain remained and forced him to dodge back for a moment. Vergil took this time to examine the damage of his armor. Just a nick and nothing more.

"That armor is marvelous", Mundus smiled innocently as he waltzed with Helena, "isn't it?"

"Tch", Dante didn't so much as spare the demon king a glance, "If you say so"

Vergil took his stance as well, Yamato pointed towards the side. Both charged in at the same time, their blades creating sparks once again. What would happen if he defeated him as he had done years ago? Would Mundus just take him back and use him once again for some other scheme? Dante gritted his teeth as he pushed his blade forward, pushing his brother's Yamato towards himself. Vergil began to push his blade forward as well. For the moment, they were at a standstill in the center of the ball room. Mundus continued to dance with his puppet near the piano as if the battle were nothing more than entertainment. '_Destroy the piano_', a faint voice informed in Dante's mind, '_Destroy it and Helena won't be under his control any more. That, or shoot the piano player!_' Dante looked up towards the Balcony for a moment at Tara, her eyes intently watching the fight. Her eyes shifted over to the piano player and back to Dante. '_And do you think Helena has what it takes to defeat the big guy once she's free from that spell?_', Dante asked as he pushed away Vergil's blade and jumped back as his brother's sword swept toward his chest, only to graze the skin. There was silence for a moment. '_Ok, fine. So it's not a great idea_', Tara's voice spoke in his mind once more. Vergil sped towards Dante and swept his sword diagonally before thrusting if forward. '_Why can't you do something to help out? She _is _your sister 'n all_', Dante parried the Yamato once again. The moment his brother's sword faced the floor, Dante swept his sword horizontally with great force and crushed a fair amount of the armor that protected Vergil's chest. '_Are you an idiot?! Mundus _wants_ me to do that! Isn't it obvious?_', Tara exclaimed. '_Heh, I thought as much_', Dante smirked. Though, a grin of triumph immediately creeped upon his face as the armor that protected Vergil's chest crumbled to the floor. A black cloth shirt was now exposed from beneath the armor that remained on his torso. '_Are you really going to kill him?_', Tara's voice asked. '_Will you stay out of my head?! And what does it matter? If I don't kill him, Mundus is just going to use him to take over the human's world_', Dante gritted his teeth. Besides, it wasn't like him and his brother were on good terms with each other. It wasn't that he hated his brother either. He just didn't want the human's world to be taken over just because he hesitated to defeat his brother.

"It seems you have found a weak point", Mundus pointed out as he twirled Helena around once and grasping her by the waist, "Don't let it go to waste"

"Shut up, Mundus", Dante retorted as his brother lashed out at him with the Yamato, "If anything, you are still as annoying as you were when we first met"

"And you're still an ignorant little brat", Mundus sneered as he continued to waltz, "Just like your brother who thought he could defeat me"

"There's one difference between me and my brother", Dante stated, blocking Vergil's attack with Rebellion's blade, "I have a good reason to kill you. More than one actually"

"Hmp", Mundus smirked, "True. Very true"

Dante attempted to block another one of Vergil's attacks with Rebellion. The attempt was futile as it resulted in his shoulder being pierced deeply by the Yamato, kneeling on the floor in mid defense. Dante gritted his teeth as he gripped a hand around the Yamato's blade, slowly pulling it out from his shoulder. Vergil tried to draw his sword back, but Dante's grip on the blade was strong. The blade digging deep into his palm and fingers, once the blade was free from his shoulder Dante pulled the blade back with great force. Vergil was now helpless and went stumbling forward wordlessly, his hands still gripping his weapon as if it were a part of him. Taking the opportunity without hesitation, Dante thrust Rebellion through Vergil's chest until the blade was completely through his brother's body. Blood sprayed out from the stab wound as the wound on Dante's shoulder continued to bleed. Dante did not so much as take a glance at his brother's face.

"Dante", Vergil finally spoke, breathlessly

"Sorry Bro'. I've got a job to do", Dante muttered. Drawing the sword from his brother's chest, he quickly sheathed it and withdrew his twin pistols. A round of bullets erupted from each pistol and pierced the already wounded Vergil. Dante's brother smirked, as if making a promise that he would be back soon. The armor that remained on Vergil began to crack, accepting the defeat that Dante had forced upon his brother. The cracks glowed for a moment before the armor exploded to a million pieces, his brother disappearing into the darkness that wrapped around him like a blanket. His presence in the room was no more a moment later.

"Don't worry", Mundus ceased his waltz, "You can have him back if you can defeat me"

Mundus took out a small dagger that he had hidden in his sleeve. Thinking that he was going to use it on Helena, Dante prepared to attack. Instead, Mundus threw the dagger at the piano player, the blade flying through the man's heart. The piano player stroked a few more keys, as if he could continue living no matter what if he continued to play the instrument. He coughed up blood as he attempted to remove the dagger from his heart, only to find that the hilt had lodged itself deep into his chest. The man looked at Mundus with pain and confusion clouding his eyes.

"Sorry Armand. Your music will no longer be needed", Mundus informed the piano player, "You can bow out now"

"B-but…", the dagger twisted itself within the man's heart. Armand screamed out in pain as he attempted to remove the source of his demise from his heart, coughing up a sickening amount of blood. Blood spurted on his piano and music sheets, covering all that he had loved. His beautiful face twisted in agony, deep red eyes drifting over to Dante as if he would be able to help bring an end to his pain and undo his demise. All Dante could do was look away as the demon slowly died by Mundus' demonic dagger. Never, in all of his years of devil hunting, had Dante allowed himself to torture his victims. No matter how much he despised the demons, he would never allow them to endure the torture before death that Armand was going through now.

The blade ceased its twisting after a moment of agonizing screams, the piano player falling over the keys of his piano and the music sheets. A few foul notes were struck before all was quiet.

"There", Mundus started, "Now we can battle in peace"

"Is that you're new hobby?", Dante started, trying to cover his anger with sarcasm, "Collecting faithful subjects and then killing them slowly"

"I must admit, Armand was the most useful out of all of my followers", Mundus rubbed his chin, "But, still, he had to be disposed of. One difference about his demise though: I will not absorb him into my being. A demon devoted solely to music serves no purpose to strengthening my demonic powers"

Not long after, the life that once sparkled in Helena's eyes soon returned. She looked around the ball room with confusion and soon looked at the demon that stood next to her. Horror made her jump away from him, and back away towards the piano.

"Nice to you have you back my dear", Mundus grinned with sickly innocence, "Dante has come for you. And, look, your sister is even here"

Helena looked towards Dante, fear still present on her face and then looked up towards the balcony towards her sister. She backed up towards the piano until the sound of her heel landing in liquid forced her to stop in her tracks. Helena turned to see a blood splattered piano with a man laying lifeless over it, his beautiful face contorted in pain. She was speechless as recognition slightly appeared in her eyes.

"I would go to Dante if I were you Helena", Mundus stated darkly.

Not even a glance at Mundus, she rushed towards Dante, tearing off the golden-butterfly mask and tossing it aside as she ran. The silver haired demon slayer forced a grin to comfort her; she could do nothing but hold back tears of fright as she ran to him.

"You idiot", her voice cracked, "You let that creep dance with me?"

"I was kind of busy", Dante told her, a small grin still etched onto his face.

Mundus sneered, "Well, I'll be seeing you in the next sparing room"

That said, Mundus disappeared into a dark portal. Dante said nothing about Mundus fleeing to another area as Helena looked up towards the balcony at her sister.

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A.N: Well, there's another chapy =D By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier but Tara is my younger sister's OC. Without her permission to use Tara, this story probably wouldn't have happened. And the design for the yellow dress Tara wore also belongs to my sister…she was having a yellow fetish at the time haha


	12. We Meet Again

Chapter 12: We Meet Again

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I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

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A.N: Almost done! I think the battle I did for this chapter was ok. It's the final battle so I had to make it longer than the other two page battles I'm used to. I think I've gotten better at battle scenes since this story, but I'm still kind of proud of it lol. =D Well, Enjoy!

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"Tara, are you okay?", Helena asked.

"Yeah, I guess so", Tara sighed, "But, do you have _any_ idea how boring it is to be a hostage? All you do is sit!"

Helena let out a small laugh, "I don't think playing the part of the hostage is supposed to be fun Tara"

"The only thing to do is count the cracks in the wall", Tara said before muttering a spell to break the chains that bound her.

"That game any fun?", Dante asked as he crossed his arms, looking up at Helena's sister.

"Like I said, being a hostage is boring", Tara restated as she jumped from the balcony and landed next to her sister.

Without warning, Helena embraced her sister and held her tight. Tears began to stream down her face as Tara stood dumbfounded by her sister's act. Dante smiled at the expression on Tara's face, stifling back a laugh.

"I was so worried", Helena wept, "I was so worried that I would never see you again"

Helena stood back from the embrace and placed her hands on Tara's shoulders, smiling through her tears.

"Jeez, Helena!", Tara exclaimed, "You get so emotional over every little thing!"

"Oh, shut up!", Helena laughed as she stood away from her sister, wiping the tears away, "I can't help it"

"Has she been this way the whole time?", Tara looked at Dante, mimicking his stance of arms crossed over the chest.

"More or less", Dante let his hands fall back to his sides.

Helena looked back towards the piano player and a frown curved her lips downward. She saw that the blood was continuing to flow around the piano like a crimson lake. The siren willed herself to walk over to the deceased demon, her heels clicking against the floor.

"What are you doing? We should get going", Dante called out.

"He was a good demon", was all Helena replied.

Dante looked at Tara for an explanation, "Armand was a friend of Helena's. Though, he went missing about a year ago. Now we know why"

"Mundus will do anything to try and get his hands on the human world", Dante muttered, "No matter how kind the devil, he'll take them and twist their minds for his needs"

Tara removed the small hat that rested atop her head and tossed it to the floor, running her hands through her hair afterwards. Disgusted with the fashion she was dressed in, she removed the mask that covered half of her face and the glove that rested on her hand. Tara would admit that she loved the color yellow. But, there was a limit on how much she could handle of one color.

Helena approached the piano player's body and brushed a hand over one side of his face before closing his eyes that were still open wide in agony, "This will not go unpunished Armand. Thank you for watching over my sister during those years we had known each other. Thank you for caring for me as well"

She lightly kissed Armand's forehead before walking back to Dante and Tara. Wiping the remaining tears, Helena looked at Dante and nodded.

"Lets go", Helena began, "I won't let all that Mundus has done go unpunished. Not as long as I still have breath in this body"

"Think you can take him?" Dante asked, looking at Tara as well.

"When my sister and I are together", Tara started, "We are a lot stronger than when we are separated"

"I take that as a 'yes'," Dante looked at Helena.

"I can't say that we will be of too much use though," Helena admitted, "You will still have to do most of the work"

"I always do," Dante grinned as he walked towards the door under the balcony, "But…uh…what about your-"

"Dresses? Don't worry, we'll be fine," Helena smiled, her and her sister walking next to Dante, "I fought in that other one, didn't I?"

"You fought in that black dress Helena?!" Tara exclaimed, "You didn't even change after he kidnapped me?"

"Yes Tara, that was the first thing on my mind after Mundus took you," Helena shook her head, sarcasm obvious in her voice.

Tara stuck her tongue out her sister in reply. Helena rolled her eyes as a small smile appeared on her face. Dante looked ahead as he reached the door, placing his hand on the knob and turning it ever so slightly. The hinges creaked softly and the door opened up to another hallway. Both Dante and Helena cringed as the sight made them want to turn away. The stone hallways seemed to haunt them through to the end. Despite their disproval, the trio walked into the new area and continued towards their last destination. Tara began asking Helena questions about what had happened after she was kidnapped and what demons they had come across as they made their way to rescue her. Helena answered each question calmly, giving only the shortest summary for each answer.

Dante willed himself not to steal any glances at the two girls. Instead, he asked himself what life would have been like if Vergil had not disappeared after their mother's death. Would Vergil have stayed? Would he have fought alongside his brother instead of against him? Dante had already accepted the fact that his brother wasn't going to be returning home anytime soon, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he did.

"Mundus was the owner of the club?!" Tara suddenly exclaimed through Dante's thoughts.

"Shh," Helena quieted her sister, "Not so loud Tara. There could be demons still lurking around. And, yes, he was"

"But, why weren't you able to sense him when you worked there?" Tara asked

"The back room," Dante stated, "It sealed off all demonic energy"

"You mean the one where no one was supposed to go?" Tara asked.

"Exactly," Helena nodded.

"Oh," was all Tara said before the question was laid to rest and a new one arose, "Wait, how are we paying this guy?"

She pointed to Dante and stared wide eyed at her sister as they continued to make their way towards the end of the hallway.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't call me 'this guy'," Dante stated as he forced Tara's hand back down.

"I'm taking him out a few times for drinks at the club," Helena smiled.

"Good," Tara crossed her arms, "As long as it's not cash. I don't think he deserves it since he let you get kidnapped"

"Hey," Dante started as he pressed a hand down on Tara's head, "Who was it that saved your sorry butts?"

"I would have done just fine on my own. Thank you very much," Tara pushed Dante's hand off her head and stuck her tongue out at him, "And, if it wasn't for my sister, you wouldn't have gotten this far"

Helena giggled as she watched the demon hunter and her sister bicker over something that seemed to happen so long ago. It seemed as if the two were taking a mere stroll for that moment, and nothing more. Though, reality caught up with her a moment later and sunk into her mind like a blade. Her face gradually tightened with concern as she looked ahead at the seemingly nonexistent end of the hallway. The fate of the world was depending on Dante, and he didn't seem to have the slightest concern about this. Helena knew all too well that he had defeated Mundus years ago, but was he even the slightest bit concerned that he might not win this time? Helena quickly let the concern melt away from her face as she looked at the two who were still bickering. If Tara saw her like that, she would go on a rampage about how Helena was a worry wart and then go on about how emotional her older sister was about every situation.  
"Dante," Helena interrupted the squabble, "How are your wounds?"

"Fine, I guess," Dante replied as he stopped Tara's flying fist in the palm of his hand, "They're slowly healing"

"It's still bleeding dummy," Tara pointed out as she brought her fist back, disappointed that her punch didn't connect with his face.

"Thank you Miss. Obvious," Dante returned, "Remind me to go to you the next time I need advice"

Tara stuck her tongue out again before attempting to punch Dante once more. She failed the attempt once again as Dante blocked the punch with his arm effortlessly.

"Do you need me to heal them?" Helena asked.

"Why?" Dante questioned, "The bleeding will stop by the time we get to Mundus"

"Listen, we don't have a time limit now. We should take a little time to rest and gather up the energy we can," Helena informed, "And if you are not in the best condition, you are not going to win the fight. Plus, you need that energy for your devil trigger, right?"

Tara rolled her eyes, "You might as well let her heal you. Once she has her mind made up, there's no stopping her"

"Yeah, like I don't know that already," Dante grinned.

Helena motioned for Dante to sit down against the wall and he frowned at her gesture, not liking the fact that she was treating him like a child. When he saw that starting an argument wasn't going to get him anywhere, he gave in and sat against the wall. Tara sat against the opposite wall, across from Dante, as Helena kneeled down in front of the devil hunter. Helena's hands glowing, she placed them over the wound on Dante's shoulder. The healing process was a little more painful this time, and the only conclusion he had for the reason why was because the wounds were caused by a strong demonic blade. The siren that sat opposite of the two had summoned her blade and was inspecting it, looking for any thing that might need immediate attention. It was almost the same as her sisters, except for the fact that the hilt was gold and not silver.

"You know, you worry too much doll," Dante started as the siren moved her glowing hand to the wound on Dante's thigh, "I would have been fine by the time I got to that bastard"

"Just humor me, ok?" Helena didn't even smile, "I just don't want to see anyone die, that's all"

Dante grabbed her wrist without warning, "I'm not going to die, doll. At least, not to Mundus or anything like him," Dante stared into her emerald eyes so she knew that he was being serious, "Listen, I'm not doing this job just because it's some kind of game to me. I'm doing this because I have to. Dieing to Mundus or some other demon is something I can't afford"

Helena curled her fingers over Dante's wound, the fabric of his pants scrunched up in her hands, managing not to touch the half healed wound. Tara watched the two in silence. She knew Dante wasn't going to hurt Helena, but she had to make sure that her over emotional sister wasn't going to start crying.

"I have more than enough motivation to keep me alive, Helena," Dante finished, letting go of her wrist and leaning back against the wall.

"I understand," Helena replied softly, unclenching her fist and continuing to heal his wound as if she were an obedient servant.

Never, in all his years of devil hunting, had Dante come across such an emotional demon. There were kind demons, sure. But, Helena worried more than any other demon or person that he had ever come across. In fact, her emotions changed so much that Dante didn't know which one to prepare for. One moment she was laughing and the next moment she was fearing for someone's life other than her own. It was driving the demon hunter crazy! Dante gazed at Helena's face, trying to anticipate what Helena might say or do next. Her emerald eyes were cast down towards her glowing hand, the expression of worry poorly hidden behind a slight smile. He then looked over at Tara, who just shook her head and rolled her eyes with a smile, mouthing the words '_typical Helena_'. Still shaking her head, Tara looked back down at her sword and began cleaning the blade with the end of her dress.

"Alright," Tara bounced up with more energy than ever, "I think we are ready to go"

"I think so too," Dante smirked as he stood, the pain and bleeding gone with the wounds, "Helena?"

"Yeah, let's go," Helena stood away from the wall, "I believe that Mundus has had enough time to prepare for what we have to bring him"

That said, the trio broke out into a sprint almost simultaneously. The girls' heels clacked softly against the floor as if they weighed nothing against gravity. Dante's boots thumped heavily, contradicting the lightness of the siren sisters. The air rushed past them at an incredible speed and whistled in their ears. Tara laughed with the delight of a child, loving the way the wind rushed through her auburn hair. Helena smiled lightly, knowing that it had been years since the girls had used many of their powers. The speed was one of those many powers and it had been a power Tara had loathed giving up. Helena had to admit that the rush of the wind through her hair was just as thrilling to her as well. She allowed herself a small laugh to compliment her sister's. Dante had no idea why the girls were giggling, though, he wasn't about to complain if Helena was having a good time and Tara wasn't trying to start an argument with him. He let a smile form on his lips as he ran harder to gain more momentum. The girls saw this as a challenge and quickened their pace as well; their footfalls still light on the ground.

"Wanna race, huh?" Dante smirked, "Alright then"

Tara and Helena laughed in unison regarding his remark. Though, the sight of a door with a menacing appearance stole the laughter away from the moment. The trio slowly coast to a stop and looked at the door that stood on the end of the hallway.

"That didn't take long," Tara crossed her arms as she gazed at the door.

"Are you ready ladies?" Dante asked as he quickly glanced at the two sirens standing next to him.

Helena's emerald gaze met his in an instant, "I better be. I've got to get this guy back for taking my sister away from me," she turned her attention to the door, "in addition, I have to kill him for putting my sister and I through the life that we had to live"

Tara looked up at her older sister, "What was wrong with it?"

Helena shook her head, "Later, not right now"

Dante shrugged as he tugged on the handle of the door, only to find that it was locked. Helena looked at him and smirked, as if saying 'you know what to do'. The silver haired demon slayer stepped back before running towards the door. He jumped up once he was within reach of the door and kicked it in, breaking the wood in half.

"One of your many uses," Helena smirked.

"Don't tell me that this is the only reason you hired me; to kick down doors," Dante looked down at her.

"Of course not, Dante," Helena shook her head before all three of them looked into the room.

Tara instantly recognized it as the room she had first been brought to after her capture. It was the large stone-walled room she had been chained in before she had been forced to sit in the ballroom. She frowned as she followed her sister and Dante into the last stage of the mission. Nothing had changed since he had been in the room, it was still the same boring room it had been hours ago. Helena tugged at the red dress, as if wanting to tear off the bottom of the hem of the skirt. She detested the dress as much as she detested the man that had put it on her.

A red portal opened up from the ceiling, Mundus floated down as he had done in the city before Helena and Dante had made their way to Nightscape. He landed gracefully on the other side of the room and stared at the trio on the opposite side.

"Why don't you show your true form, Mundus?" Dante challenged.

"Why? Because I don't feel like it, that's why," Mundus answered as he summoned a blade from the portal that remained above his head. The hilt of the weapon was gold, crude designs holding the blade to the hilt. A black blade grew to an equal size of Rebellion, though its blade was far more menacing in nature. Not only that, but the blade was overflowing with the demonic power Mundus had collected from the demons he had absorbed. Helena stepped back one step as fear of the blade took over.

"What's the matter Helena? Afraid to join the others?" Mundus chuckled as he ran a hand over the dark blade.

"Hey, you're fighting me. Remember?" Dante cut in, "Don't go taunting these two until you can defeat me"

Mundus walked forward towards the center of the large room and stood in his fighting stance. Dante strode over towards the center as well, unsheathing Rebellion and standing with this sword pointing at Mundus.

"Come on," Dante taunted.

Without hesitation, Mundus swept forward in a lightning fast motion and swept his sword upwards. Dante stepped back at the last moment, a few strands of hair falling to the floor. The silver haired demon slayer parried another attack from Mundus. This time the attack came from the side and quicker than the last attack. Was it possible that Mundus had gained more skills and speed after their last battle? Of course it was, to Dante's disapproval. Though, on the flip side, Dante finally had the battle he had been waiting for. In the end, he couldn't really complain. Mundus swung his sword at Dante's head and missed by centimeters. Dante executed the same attack, only to end with the same result.

"I have to admit, you've gotten better," Mundus commented nonchalantly, "But, so have I"

That said the demon was gone from where he had stood. The next moment he was sliding his leg across the ground, knocking Dante off his feet.

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Helena watched with worry, tugging at her hair subconsciously. If it weren't for the blade, she wouldn't fear so much for Dante. '_Any wound caused by that blade takes longer to heal_,' she recalled, '_not only that, if he is killed with that blade, he will be forced to suffer for eternity_'

Tara looked up at her sister and sighed irritably, "Helena, he'll be fine. You worry too much"

"I know. But, that blade worries me more than anything"

"Like I said, he'll be fine. I'm pretty sure Dante has been through worse things," Tara assured her sister.

Helena smiled, her sister's words slightly easing her worry, "Yeah, you're probably right"

"Duh," Tara rolled her eyes, crossing her arms before looking back at the fight.

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Dante blocked the attack that Mundus brought down on him, laying on his back from the fall. He quickly parried the blade and jumped up to his feet within seconds. The silver haired demon slayer only thought about how unlike him it was to be knocked off his feet in front of a client/partner. Though, by the look on Helena's face, his reputation was the least of her worries. Mundus swept his blade upward to cut Dante in half but failed due to the fact that the devil hunter had jumped away at the last possible moment, as he had done before. Not even a second after jumping back, Dante went in for an attack. He jumped up off the ground and brought his sword down over Mundus' head. As expected, Mundus fended off the attack and forced Dante to jump back as Mundus attempted to slice Dante down while he was still in the air. The gold eyed demon smirked when he saw blood dripping from a fresh wound on Dante's thigh, the same place where Vergil had wounded him. Dante heard a small gasp from Helena who stood a ways behind him. She hadn't worried so much before about him getting wounded. Concerned, yes. But not as worried as she seemed now.

"Guess I should have told you," Mundus started as he advanced towards Dante, "Any wound inflicted by this blade takes longer to heal. Let's hope you don't bleed to death once I'm done with you"

"One scratch," Dante shrugged it off, "Big deal. Though, I'd be a lot more excited if you'd show your true, ugly self"

"Sorry, I don't think this room would be big enough for that"

"Then maybe we should take this outside," Dante said as he ran forward to attack Mundus.

Mundus kept the smirk on his face as he ran forward as well. Both their blades met in a clash of sparks before Mundus forced Dante's blade to the side. The silver haired demon slayer quickly jumped back from the killing blow, receiving a wound on his left upper arm.

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Helena bit her lip as she watched Dante receive two wounds from the dark blade. How could she not worry if Mundus was slowly going to cut him down? Tara seemed to think otherwise about the outcome. Did her younger sister truly believe that Dante was invincible?

"Tara, if we have to, we are going to go into the fight and help him," Helena whispered.

"Won't he get mad, Helena?" Tara looked up at her sister, a hint of irritation gleaming in her emerald eyes.

"I'd rather have him mad than dead," Helena stated, "how 'bout you?"

Tara simply shrugged as she turned back to watch the fight. Helena rolled her eyes in irritation, looking back at the fight as well.

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Dante was irritated enough with the fact that Mundus would not show his true self. What irritated Dante more was that this demon that refused to come out of his human shell was slowly attempting to cut him down. If it weren't for the black blade, Mundus wouldn't even have half the power he was fighting with now. Was it possible that the Prince of Darkness hadn't even regained his true powers yet? It was the only explanation for him using the blade. The last time Dante had fought the demon, Mundus hadn't even used any kind of weapon. Dante jumped back from another attack, thinking of a way to get the sword out of Mundus' hands. If he could accomplish that, he could get Mundus to show his true form, whether he had all his powers or not. Though, as with many things, the task was easier said than done.

"What are you scheming?" Mundus brought his sword back to his side as he stood watching Dante's ice-blue eyes grow slightly distant.

The silver haired man was only partly concentrating on the fight itself, and that irritated Mundus. If his opponent wasn't going to fully be engaged in the battle, he saw no point in fighting.

"Nothing in particular," Dante answered as he brought his whole mind back to the battlefield.

"Hmph," was all Mundus could respond with as he brought the dark blade back into offense.

Dante followed suit, bringing his own blade back into offense. If he could knock the demon back just once, that would give him more than enough time to knock the dark blade out of Mundus' grip. Unaware of Dante's plans, Mundus charged in as he had done many times before. Dante took the defense for a few moments before he actually began parrying the attacks. The dark blade began flying in from all sides, attempting to do the silver haired demon slayer more harm. Mundus gritted his teeth as he pushed an attack towards Dante with all of his strength. Dante had blocked the attack, though he was sent flying across the room and smashing into the stone wall. The stones were crushed by the demon slayers body, little pieces of debris falling onto Dante's coat and in his hair. Mundus didn't hesitate a second as he sped towards Dante, preparing to deal the killing blow. As usual, Dante blocked at the last possible second and pushed his blade forward. Mundus was forced to jump back as Dante attempted to take a swing at him.

Staggering for a moment, Dante shook the debris from his hair and his coat. His twisted sense of thrill soon showed through in a devilish grin. Blood trickled down the side of Dante's face and dripped down from his chin. If this was all Mundus could accomplish, he might as well try to end it quickly.

"I'm disappointed," Dante started as he patted down his coat, "I was promised an entertaining fight"

"You aren't impressed? I figured as much," Mundus stood in offense once more, "Though, unlike you I'm not doing this for the thrill and the money"

"Yeah, yeah," Dante brushed off the demon's comments, "But those aren't the only reasons I'm in this, either"

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Tara hated the way they would stop fighting for a brief conversation. It seemed meaningless!

"Will you cut the chitchat and finish the fight already! I wanna go home!"

Helena glared at Tara who, in turn shrugged, mouthing a sarcastic 'what?' to her sister. The raven haired woman only sighed as she looked back at the two men on the other side of the room. Mundus looked at her irritably, narrowing his golden eyes at the little interruption. Dante smirked as he looked back at Mundus.

"Hear that? The little brat wants to go home," Dante quipped, "Guess I should wrap up this crazy party"

"Wrap it up?" questioned Mundus, "We have barely begun Dante"

"Tch," Dante shrugged his coat before adjusting his gloves, "Didn't think it be that easy"

Mundus only shrugged before disappearing from where he stood. Dante sighed irritably before he, too, disappeared from where he was standing. Both their blades met while they were both in the air. Sparks drifted downwards, only to disappear before they reached the ground. Both jumped back from each other and landed on their feet before running to strike at each other once again. Mundus slid across the floor in an attempt to trip Dante again. Dante only smirked and flipped over the prince of darkness to land on the other side of him. Seizing the moment, Dante turned and brought his blade down onto Mundus' back. Dark blood poured from the wound as Mundus stood up with an evil smile on his face. Dante stood back a step as the demon's laugh soon erupted and echoed in the room.

"Well done, well done," Mundus turned towards Dante, "It's a shame that this body isn't mine though"

"Didn't think it was," Dante stated

"Your using up all of your energy on this human body," Mundus continued, "You will continue to cut it down until you kill the human it belongs to"

Dante's job wasn't to cut down humans. But, what other choice was there? He didn't want to kill the human, but, he didn't want to let Mundus get away because of that. If he could get the sword away from Mundus, would it be possible to save the human? On the other hand, what if the human was the one that had accepted this fate?

Mundus chuckled, "I see you are struggling with what to do next. You don't want to kill this human do you?"

"Why are you so afraid to show your true self, Mundus?" Helena called, "Is it because your true self is weak?"

Mundus glanced over at her, "Yes, you should know all about being weak, my pet"

The moment had Mundus looked away gave Dante all the time he needed. Not even taking the time to bring a smirk to his face, Dante dashed forward in an unseen motion and knocked the dark blade from Mundus' hands. The blade went flying over Mundus' head, only to be caught by Dante in the same lightning speed motion. The Prince of Darkness stood dumbfounded, looking down at his now empty hands. He looked back at Dante and snarled once the shock had passed, a hiss escaping between clenched teeth.

"You shouldn't have looked away," Dante shrugged, "You have only yourself to blame"

As if Dante no longer mattered, Mundus took off towards Helena. Attempting to defend herself, Helena summoned her blade as Mundus ran at her. Dante took off after Mundus, knowing that the prince was going to try and kill the siren for her power, dropping the black blade on the way. Tara readied her weapon as well, though she knew full well that she couldn't kill the human body. With the inhuman strength Mundus still retained, he tossed Tara to the side as if she were nothing more than a doll, not even giving her a chance to defend. Wide eyed, Helena watched as her own blade went flying out of her hands and clattering on the stone floor. Just as quickly as the blade had been tossed from her hands, Mundus' grip was around her neck and chocking her.

"Let her go! I told you to defeat me first!" Dante exclaimed he ran across the room.

Helena clawed at his wrists as she gasped for air, Mundus lifting her up from the ground, "You will become one with me. Then, I will have your sister join you"

Tara attempted to use her shriek of the siren to stop Mundus. But, it only resulted in Dante losing his balance for a split second. The demon hunter sent a silent curse in her direction before he finally made it to Mundus. In that moment, Dante no longer cared for the human that Mundus had possessed. He brought down his blade, only to have Mundus catch it with one of his hands as he continued to strangle Helena with the other. Helena's attempt to release the demon's hold on her neck grew weaker by the moment. Her vision was slowly going blurry as her lungs swelled, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Tara attempted to get up but found that one of her legs were broken. She gripped her weapon, watching her sister slowly wither away as Dante tried to pull free. Dante would have let go of his sword if he didn't fear Mundus stabbing Helena with it once he did. Clenching her teeth, Tara picked up her blade and gazed at the body Mundus had possessed. '_Sorry, Human. But I must_,' she thought to herself before sending the blade flying towards Mundus. The prince of darkness widened his eyes as he saw the blade soaring towards him. Unable to defend himself, the blade sunk into his heart and pierced it all the way through. Helena went stumbling to the floor, violently coughing as she struggled to catch her breath. Dante, Rebellion now free, ran to her side to make sure she was going to be alright. Sweat had beaded on her forehead from the struggle, some of her hair sticking to her face. Helena gripped the arm of Dante's coat as her breathing slowly steadied.

Mundus staggered back, surprised that he had actually been pierced and by Tara no less. Blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth as he pulled the blade from his chest, only to have the blade disappear from his grasp.

"Fine, you want to see my true form?" Mundus asked before yelling at the top of his lungs.

The whole room vibrated as stones began to fall from the ceiling and were sent crashing to the ground around Mundus. Suddenly, the whole room disappeared and they were standing amongst the stars, the same thing Mundus had done the first time Dante fought him.

"Can't you think of anything new to throw at me?" Dante started as he stood up with Helena, her emerald eyes sharp and glaring at Mundus.

Tara stumbled to their side, her leg slowly healing itself. Mentally, she figured that she had Mundus to thank for her powers. But she knew that she should curse him for leaving her and her sister to live awkward lives up to this day. Tara didn't want to admit it, but she hated the life they led as much as her sister. She saw Helena suffering each day but always portrayed an optimistic attitude whenever her sister returned home from work. What Mundus had given them was both a curse and a blessing. Tara watched Dante dash away from her sister's side to fight Mundus. He tapped into the powers of his devil trigger along the way, his human form changing into the menacing devil that dwelled inside him. This time dark wings sprouted from his back, helping him soar towards the prince of darkness with maddened hast.

Helena stood dumfounded for a moment as she watched Mundus shooting red, crystal like beams at Dante.

"I'm not falling for that again!" Dante exclaimed, "You might have gotten me the first time with that attack, but that's it"

"We'll see about that," Mundus flew up further, using his six wings to elevate himself higher into the starry surroundings.

Dante dashed upwards after him, his sword pointed at his opponent as if her were a knight. The air whipped past him in the otherwise breezeless place. Dante moved upwards so fast that red streaks streamed off his figure indicating heat. This only made the devil hunter smile even more.


	13. And So It Ends

Chapter 13: All Comes to a Close

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I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

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A.N: Last Chapter! Its short, sweet, and pretty much to the point. I really didn't give the end of the battle much thought at the time I had written this, but I think its ok. (The opening to this chapter is really cheesy haha. I had watched Rurouni Kenshin before writing this and was thinking about how Kenshin was going on about life and needing to live it an what not =P)Enjoy!

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"When we get out of here, I'm not going to complain about life anymore," Helena spoke, "After meeting Dante, I know now that there are those with worse pasts than most people who go on living life….making what they can of it"

Tara nodded, "I know what you mean…but why didn't this ever come to thought before?"

Her sister looked on towards the battle, "Selfishness…that's all it was Tara. We were too busy thinking that our own troubles were worse than everybody else's"

The siren sisters said nothing else as they watched Dante fly straight through a huge white light that Mundus had shot from the eye in the center of his forehead. Dante avoided the worst of the damage by doing this and was now left plenty of time to strike at Mundus. The prince of darkness saw this but could do nothing, just as the sisters had foretold not too long ago.

"No!" he yelled in his deep voice, immobilized otherwise because of his lack of power.

"This time…!" Dante started as he stabbed his sword through the source of Mundus' power, his third eye, "…don't come back until I have a son!"

Mundus tried to swipe Dante away but found he couldn't. He was beginning to disappear just as the illusion of the starry space was.

"Don't forget that you still have to say 'hello' to him, too," Dante finished with a smirk.

"Noooooooooooo," Mundus cried out, "This cannot be! All of my planning, gone to waste!"

Helena tried not to laugh at this, "Planning? You obviously didn't plan well enough"

"I _will_ be back, mark my words!! I will kill all of you! And this human world will be mine!!" he was no longer present by the time he finished his last sentence; the last words were only an echo.

Dante reverted back to his human form as he returned Rebellion back to where it was held. He was bleeding a little bit because of the damage he had received from the beam of light in his devil trigger form, but it was nothing that wouldn't heal on its own. Dante turned to the sisters to find that their own wounds had healed, standing side by side in tattered dresses.

"Let's get out of here," Dante started, "I don't know about you, but a nice cold beer sounds good right about now"

Helena giggled, "I don't know about beer, but I know that I'd like nothing more than a nice, long rest"

"I second that," Tara slightly raised her hand in agreement before putting it tiredly back down at her side.

The three looked towards the large, wooden door that appeared on the stone wall. A spell had obviously hidden the door up until this moment to prevent their premature escape during the battle.

"I take it that this door is the exit," Dante walked up to the door and examined it, "No spells or secret key, right?"

Helena joined the examination, "I don't see anything like that"

Tara shrugged before opening up the door, "Then why are we standing around? Lets go home!"

Helena and Dante followed Tara down the wooden hallway towards the human world that they had left what seemed like so long ago.

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Dante let the towel rest on his head, his silvery hair wet underneath it. The steam from the hot shower following him out of the bathroom like some ghost that wanted him to stay. As usual when just getting out of the shower, he wore only his leather pants, boots and his amulet, leaving his torso bare. He walked over to his desk and placed a few stray papers inside a desk before looking out the window, the sun filtering through and hitting the floor. The sky was clear as far as he could tell and there were no strange clients walking through the large, double doors to give him work. It had been quiet and boring since his mission with Helena. Speaking of Helena, she had yet to contact him for one of the two drinks she had promised him. He shrugged as he sat down on his favorite chair, '_She might be really busy right now_,' he thought. But, having her call him for the drink would give him something to do other than lay around his office and wait for a new mission. He sighed and looked up towards the ceiling with the towel over his eyes.

As if on cue, he heard the sound of the door opening followed by the sound of heels lightly clicking against the wooden floor. The door closed just about the same time the footsteps came to a stop. A familiar scent reached his nose before Dante looked away from the ceiling towards the woman who had entered the office. It was Helena, standing in the middle of his office wearing a plain white summer dress with cherry red heels, holding a purse of the same color slung over her right shoulder. She had a red ribbon around her neck tied in a bow off to the side to compliment the shoes. Her cherry red lips curved into a friendly smile, her black hair was tied back into a loose braid. Her bangs still swept to the side as some hair that had gotten loose from the braid framed her fairy-like face.

"Sorry I took so long," were her first words, "There were a lot of problems with work"

"I was beginning to wonder if you were ever gonna show up," Dante sat up, placing the towel off to the side on his desk.

"It's kind of hard to find time when I'm helping restore a bar," Helena smiled

"Restore?"

Helena walked forward and placed a pamphlet down on Dante's desk. He looked up at her questionably before looking down to see the name 'Siren's Den' on top of the pamphlet. Under that it red 'formerly known as 'Nightscape'' in black print. Dante looked up at Helena, who was beaming as she pointed down at the fine print just under what he had just read. 'Under new management.'

"New management, huh?"

"Yeah, and I'll let you take a wild guess on who can get you free drinks anytime now," her smile was bright.

"Wow, how did this come about?" Dante asked as he returned the smile; he couldn't help it.

"Well, since the other manager decided to 'quit' without notice, I was the assistant manager's first pick to be promoted to manager. He didn't want all that work as manager himself. That was half the reason why. But he thought that I would make a good manager," she shrugged and sat on top of his desk.

"That's good to hear. Now I don't have to pay for my drinks for a while," Dante looked up at her.

Helena looked around the office, a smile still on her face, "Listen, there is one other reason I came to see you in person instead of calling you"

She avoided eye contact for a moment. Dante was left confused until she turned to him. Her emerald eyes sparkled with a life he hadn't seen in her eyes before.

"I came to thank you," she looked down at her hand that gripped the edge of the desk.

"Isn't that what the drinks are for?"

She shook her head, some more strands of hair set free of the braid, "That's for payment…one is an apology, remember?"

"Oh," was all Dante could say before adding, "right"

He leaned forward, interested in the way this woman's mind worked.

"_This_ is thank you," she said before turning slightly on his desk and leaning down to lock her lips with his.

It only lasted a moment before she pulled away. Dante smirked, leaning back with some satisfaction.

"Hm, if you _really_ want a good time," he cradled the back of his hand in his hands, "just let me know"

Helena laughed, "You will be the first one I call"

She stood up from his desk, noticing his new coat hanging on the coat rack.

"That's a nice coat," she commented, "You should really take care of them, instead of spending a fortune on buying a new one every time they get ruined"

"I try, doll. I try,"

She walked towards the large doors, her heels clicking against the wooden floors as they had done upon her entrance moments ago. Helena stopped once she had gotten to the door and turned to face him, "Whenever you want a drink, just stop by"

Dante nodded while placing his feet up on the desk, "I sure will. I might even be there this afternoon"

She only smiled, "I look forward to it"

With that, she was out the door. Dante sat in his now empty office, her scent filling the room. The old fashioned rotary phone suddenly rang. He picked it up without really thinking about it.

"Devil May Cry," was all he had to say before he heard the password and his new mission. He soon hung up, getting up to grab his coat and his weapons, "looks like that drink is gonna have to wait"

With that, he was out the door and heading towards his next assignment.

A.N: For the longest time, before I even began the fanfic, I had this picture in my head of Helena sitting on Dante's desk and leaning over to give him a kiss. That's all I had planned for part of the ending haha. For those who have read all 13 chapters, I thank you!! Much thanks to those who have reviewed as well =D I'm sorry the story was so short tho' lol. What can I say tho? It was my first DMC fanfic. Thank you for reading once again!!!!!


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